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The highly praiseworthy conduct of the Editors of the "Globe" 
newspaper in exposing and denouncing a very rascally attempt to 
swindle Her Majesty's subjects, and the resolute bearing of its pro- 
prietors in meeting before a jury the gasconading effort of vengeance 
brought against them by the discomfited promoter of this mis- 
chievous scheme, merit the warmest gratitude of all who are capable 
of discriminating between right and wrong. And this sentiment 
has induced us to profit by their line of conduct, by preserving in 
a tangible shape the record of the proceedings referred to ; adding 
to this a few not irrelevant notanda, both as connected with the 
moving principle of the transaction, and the illustrious order, so 
readily adapted for similar outbreaks against common sense and 
propriety. 

The promoter of the " British-American Association for Emigra- 
tion and Colonization" is an individual styling himself Sir Richard 
Broun, Baronet. When the bubble was started, this person then 
wrote himself Knight* Both titles being alike baseless assump- 
tions, it may be as well to record the pedigree of this distinguished 
character, as set forth in the infallible Mr. Burke's " Peerage and 
Baronetage" (last edition), aided of course by the obliging correc- 
tions of the party whose bright dignity it mirrors forth. We omit 
the "family tradition" of French descent from the era of the Con- 
quest, and commence somewhat nearer to our own time. The 
account of the -family in Mr. Broun's own " Baronetage" is even 
more diffusively vague. 

" Various other notices occur of chiefs of the family in the par- 
liamentary records and meetings of estates, together with names 
long associated with the history of those times, down to George 
Broun of Colstoun, who m. Margaret, daughter of Sir D. Murray 
of Stanhope, Bart., by his wife, the Lady Lilias Fleming, dau. of 
John Earl of Wigtoun, by a dau. of John Earl of Montrose, and 

* We give his altisonant title as noted by himself in his " Baronetage of 
the British Empire" for 1843 : — 

" Sir Kichard Broun, Eques Auratus, Hon. Secretary to the Committee of 
the Baronetage for Privileges, a Knight Commander of the Sovereign Order 
of St. John of Jerusalem, and Grand Secretary of the Langue of England." 
What this Free-masonic trash means we know not : of all such associations of 
self-styled " Knights," the only gentlemanly and aristocratic one is, we believe, 
that of the Order of Knights Templars of Scotland, so called ; and where this 
" Grand Secretary of the Langue" dare not venture to show his nose. 



11 



had a younger son, George, who m. a clau. of Spottiswoode, the 
Barony of Thorny dyke ; and 

" I. Sir Patrick Broun of Colstoun, who, in consequence of his 
eminent services, and the fidelity of the ancient family he represented, 
was created a Knight, said Baronet of Nova Scotia, 16th Feb. 1686, 
with reservation of the title to his heirs-male for ever. Sir Patrick 
m. a dau. of the noble family of Sinclair, and was s. by his son, 

" II. Sir George Broun, who m. the Lady Elizabeth M'Kenzie, 
dau. of George 1st Earl of Cromarty; and d. 1718, without male 
issue. It is reported of Lady Elizabeth, the first night after her 
marriage that she slept at Colstoun house, that she dreamed she 
had eaten the pear, which her father-in-law looked on as a bad 
omen, and expressed great fears that she would be an instrument 
in the destruction of the house of Colstoun. Whether owing to the 
lady's fault, does not appear, but, shortly after, the family split 
betwixt the heirs-male and the heirs-of-line, the title devolving upon 
the Thornydyke branch, and the estates upon an heiress, who married 
George Brown of Eastfield, and from whom are descended the latter 
family, represented by George Brown Lord Colstoun, of Session 
(who m. a dau. of D. Dalrymple, Lord Westhall) ; the late Charles 
Brown of Colstoun, who m. a daughter of M'Douall of Logan; and 
the Countess of Dalhousie. 

" III. Sir George Broun, son of Alexander Broun of Thornydyke 
Castle and Bassendea,n, by Catherine, dau. of Sir Alexander Swinton 
of Swinton, s. his cousin, and died without male issue, and was s. 
by his brother, 

" IV. Sir Alexander, who m. Beatrice, dau. of Alexander Swinton, 
Lord Mersington; and d. 1750, leaving 

" V. Sir Alexander Broun, who m. a dau. of Colquhoun of Glins, 
and d, 1775, without male issue, when the baronetcy devolved upon 
his cousin, 

" VI. The Eev. Sir Richard Broun,* minister of Lochmaben, who 
declined to take up the title, as he was in holy orders. He m. 
Robina, dau. of Col. Hugh M'Bryde of Beadland, Ayrshire; and d. 
in 1782, leaving two sons, — 

"James, who, in 1825, assumed the title, after a special service 
before a jury of fifteen gentlemen of the co. of Dumfries, of 
whom the present Marquess of Queensberry was the chancellor. 
Sir James is the Present Baronet. 
" William, of Newmains, who m. Nancy, dau. of Colonel Peter 
Maingy of Guernsey; and d. in 1831, leaving three sons, — 
" 1. William, Government Secretary of Guernsey. 
" 2. Peter-Nicolas, Colonial Secretary of Swan River. 
" 3 Richard M'Bryde." 
To make thi3 very plausible story immediately perceptible, we 
reduce it, more probato, to a simple stemma; by which means we 
shall the more readily discover how far the learned genealogist is 
borne out by his own assertions. 

" * The Rev. gentleman was a distinguished member of the Church of Scot- 
land. He had two brothers, Colonel William Broun, Lieut. -governor of 
Guernsey, and Captain James Broun, R.N., both of whom d. unm" 



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VI 



J ames then promises, for himself and his heirs and successors, never 
to create in England any grade, order, name, title, dignity, or state 
above or equal to that of Baronet, and not to fill up any vacancy in 
the said number of two hundred that might occur by failure of 
heirs-male of the bodies of any of the grantees. 

" Very soon after the institution of the Order, a dispute arose 
between the Baronets and the younger sons of Viscounts and Barons 
about precedency, and the matter being referred to the King in 
Council, James heard it argued before him for three several days, 
and, on the 28th of May, 1612, he issued a decree, settling the point 
in dispute. He adjudged that the younger sons of Viscounts and 
Barons should take place and precedence before all Baronets; that 
Bannerets made by the King under the royal standard displayed in 
an army royal in open war, should, 1 for the term of their lives only, 
and no longer,' precede all other Bannerets, younger sons of Vis- 
counts and Barons, and Baronets, and that the said younger sons and 
Baronets should precede all Bannerets not created in that manner, 
except those that might be made by Prince Henry: — 

" 'That the Knights of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the 
Privie Councellours of his Majestie, his heires and successours, the 
Master of the Court of Wardes and Liveries, the Chancellour and 
under-Treasourer of the Exchequer, Chancellour of the Duchie, the 
Chiefe Justice of the Court commonly called the King's Bench, the 
Master of the Rolls, the Chiefe Justice of the Court of Common 
Pleas, the Chiefe Baron of the Exchequer, and all other the Judges 
and Barons of the degree of the Coife of the said Courts, now, and 
for the time being, shall by reason of such their Honourable orders 
and imployment of State and Justice, have place and precedencie 
in all places, and upon all occasions before the yonger sonnes of 
Viscounts and Barons, and before all Baronets, any custome, use, 
ordinance, or other thing to the contrary notwithstanding. But 
that no other person or persons whatsoever, under the degree of 
Barons of Parliament, shall take place before the said Baronets, 
except onely the yonger sonnes of Viscounts and Barons, and others 
of higher degree, whereof no question ever was, or can be made.' 

" The precedency assigned to the wives and children of Baronets, 
and the promise not to create any rank above or equal to that of 
Baronet, is repeated. King James then proceeded to grant addi- 
tional honours and privileges to the Baronets : 

" ' First, his Majestie is pleased to Knight the present Baronets, 
that are no Knights; and doeth also by these presents of his meere 
motion and favour, promise and graunt for him, his heires and 
successours, that such Baronets, and the heires males of their bodies, 
as hereafter shalbe no Knights, when they shall attaine, or be of 
the age of one and twentie yeares; upon knowledge thereof given 
to the Lord Chamberlaine of the household, or Vice-Chamberlaine 
for the time beeing, or in their absence to any other other officer 
attending upon his Majesties person, shalbe Knighted by his Ma- 
jestie, his heires and successours. His Majestie doth also graunt for 
him, his heires and successours, that the Baronets, and their de- 



vii 

scendants, shall and may beare, either in a Canton in their coate of 
Amies, or, in an Inscutchion, at their election, the Amies of Ulster, 
that is, in a field Argent, a hand Geules, or a bloudy hand. And 
also, that the Baronets, for the time beeing, and the heires males of 
their bodies shall have place in the Armies of the King's Majestie, 
his heires and successours, in the grosse, neare about the royall 
Standard of the King, his heires and successours, for the defence of 
the same. And lastly, that the Baronets, and the heires males of 
their bodies shall have two assistants of the bodie, to support the 
pall, a principal!, mourner, and foure assistants to him at their 
funerals, being the meane betwixt a Baron and a Knight.' 

" Four years afterwards, namely, in 1616, another and final decree 
was made, which provided ' that the said Title, Stile, Dignitie, and 
Degree of Baronet, shall be, and shall be reputed and taken to be a 
Title, Stile, Dignity, and Degree of Dignity Hereditary, meane in 
place betwixt the Degree of a Baron and the Degree of a Knight.' 

" Provision is made for the precedency of the wives, widows, sons, 
and daughters of Baronets, and then follows this clause, upon which 
the present claims are principally founded: — 

" ' And our will and pleasure is, and we doe for us, our heires and 
successours, hereby further grant and appoint, that if and doubts 
or questsons not heereby, nor by any our recited Letters Patents 
cleared and determined, doe or shall arise, concerning any place, 
precedency, priviledge, or other matter touching or concerning the 
same Baronets, and the heires Males of their bodies, and their wives, 
their eldest sonnes and their wives, their daughters, their yonger 
sonnes, and their yonger sonnes' wives, or any of them ; such doubts 
or questions shall be decided and determined, by and according to 
such usuall rules, custome, and lawes, for place, precedency, privi- 
ledge, or other matters concerning them as other Degrees of Dignity 
Hereditary are ordered and adjudged.' 

"The clause in the patent of 1611, about Knighting the heirs 
male of Baronets being ambiguous, it was fully explained in the 
final decree. 

"So far from their being anything unsettled, or ambiguous, re- 
specting the rights, honours, and privileges, of the Baronets, it is 
scarcely possible to imagine how they could be more accurately or 
minutely described. The Committee of Baronets claim, however, 
besides Knighthood for all Baronets, and for their eldest sons on 
attaining the age of twenty-one, — the style of £ Honourable and 
' Supporters to their arms, a Badge, a Dark Green dress, as the 
appropriate costume pertaining to them as Equites Aurati ; the 
Collar of S S— the Belt— the Scarf— a Star— a Pennon— a White 
Hat, and Plume of White Feathers — the Thumb Bing and Signet — 
the Sword— Gilt Spurs, &c.' (p. 60.) 

" These claims appear to be founded partly upon the clause in the 
Patent of 1616, that 'if any doubts or questions not hereby, nor 
by any our recited Letters-Patent, cleared and determined, do or 
shall arise, such doubts or questions shall be decided and determined 
by and according to such usual rules, customs, and laws, for place, 



Vlll 



precedency, privilege, or other matters concerning them, as other 
degrees of dignity hereditary, are ordered and adjudged;' partly 
upon a presumed analogy to other dignities ; and partly upon sup- 
posed usage. 

" The operative words in the Patent of a Baronet are, Mr. Craw- 
ford says, ' almost a counterpart of a Patent of a Baron, viz., 
' Proeficimus, constituimus et creamus eidemque A. B. statum, gra- 
dum, dignitatem, stilum, nomen, et honorem Baronis B. de C.,' in 
the one case, and 'in dignitatem, statum et gradum Baronetti' — 
' nomen, statum, gradum, stilum, dignitatem, titulum, locum et pras- 
cedentiam prasdictam, &c.' in the other, and he adds that — 

" 1 It is no violent presumption to conclude, that the words state, 
grade, dignity, title, and name, which conferred upon a Baron cer- 
tain well-known privileges, were not lightly or thoughtlessly used 
in the Patents of Baronets by the Founder of that Order. The use 
of such words in both instruments, drives the opponents of the Ba- 
ronets' claims into a dilemma, for either those words mean nothing 
at all, thus stultifying the Royal Founder's express intentions and 
solemn deliberate act, or they must have attributed to them that 
meaning alone, which they were known to bear when theretofore 
used in conferring ' other hereditary degrees of dignity.' In no 
other light can I regard them, for it would be most fallacious to 
argue that the same identical words can, in conferring hereditary 
privileges, have different interpretations. We then naturally en- 
quire, what is the operation and what the effect of the words so 
used with reference to the dignity of Baron? In other words, what 
' state, degree, dignity, style, title, name, honour, place, and privi- 
lege,' are conferred upon, and enjoyed by a Baron, by force and 
virtue of a Patent so nearly identical in its terms with that of a 
Baronet V 

" Mr. Crawford therefore infers that the distinctions incidental 
to the dignity of a Baron are also incidental to that of a Baronet, 
viz., ' honorary epithets, secondary titles, .personal decorations, and 
augmented heraldic bearings.' In the whole range of controversial 
writings it would perhaps be impossible to discover a theory more 
destitute of foundation, or a more perfect instance of a non sequitur 
than this. By the one grant the party obtains the ' state, grade, 
dignity, style, title, name, and honour of a Baron,' with all its 
rights and privileges ; and as those rights and privileges are not 
expressly denned, they are ascertained and fixed by ancient usage, 
and long-established custom. In the other case, the party obtains 
the 'state, grade, dignity, style, title, and name of a Baronet,' 
many of the rights and privileges incidental to which, are not only 
described in the instrument itself, but part of them are expressly 
referred to, and all the additional ones are clearly defined and set- 
tled by the subsequent patents of 1612 and 1616. How then can 
it be contended that a patent which grants any particular dignity, 
with all the rights and privileges appertaining to such dignity, can 
confer any part of the rights and privileges belonging to another 
and totally distinct dignity ? Besides the privileges mentioned by 



IX 



Mr. Crawford, and the right of sitting- in Parliament, Barons enjoy 
various other privileges and immunities — freedom from arrest, and 
from attending court-leets, or the posse comitatus, in cases of riot, 
for example — and does he mean to say that these were included in 
the patent to Baronets as part of their state, grade, or dignity? 
But if his arguments be correct, and any privilege belonging to 
Barons were given to Baronets by those words, all must be given, 
— a reductio ad absurdum, that shows the mistake into which he 
has fallen. 

"We now proceed to notice the other claims seriatim: — First, 
Knighthood. — Many of the newly-created Baronets being Knights, 
and, perhaps, with the view of consolidating or uniting, as it were, 
the new dignity with an ancient institution, King James engaged 
to Knight all Baronets, and their eldest sons on becoming of age; 
consequently there can be no dispute as to the right of those Ba- 
ronets and their eldest sons, to Knighthood, in all cases in which 
a clause to that effect occurs in their patents of creation. We be- 
lieve there are few, if any, patents of English Baronets in which it 
is omitted, before the 19th of December 1827, when Letters Patent 
were issued, revoking the covenant in the patents of King James ; 
and it has been omitted in all subsequent creations of Baronets. 

" When a Baronet is Knighted, he of course becomes entitled to 
all the privileges and distinctions of a Knight Bachelor, as well as 
of a Baronet: and the claim to vestments and decorations is prin- 
cipally founded upon such ornaments having been once worn by 
Knights. Mr. Crawford observes (and, as it is almost the only 
indication of common sense we have discovered throughout the Ba- 
ronets' proceedings, it is particularly deserving of attention) — ' But 
supposing the right to such dress and decorations to be undoubted, 
it will be for the body at large to consider how far their adoption 
would suit the spirit of the age, and whether the splendid trappings 
of the days of Chivalry are adapted to those matter-of-fact times in 
which we live. On such points as these, I can offer no remark. 
My duty is to point out, to the best of my ability, what the Baron- 
ets may claim if they shall be so disposed.' 

" Certainly it would rather astonish her Majesty's lieges to see 
900 gentlemen walking about London with gold collars of S S, 
scarfs, belts (or military girdles), swords, gilded spurs, gold chains, 
and with large gold rings on their thumbs, and white hats and 
plumes on their heads ! 

" Though the right of such Baronets as enjoy their titles under 
patents containing the covenant to confer knighthood upon them 
and upon their sons and heirs-apparent, is not likely to be disputed, 
the Crown, when called upon to confer that dignity, has not merely 
the power, but it is bound to ascertain that the claimants are de 
jure entitled to its favour. In other words, their pedigree ought 
first to be proved by legal evidence, before a Court created for that 
purpose. The necessity for such a measure has long been felt, be- 
cause many persons have assumed the title, either without any 
proofs of their descent whatever, or, what is nearly the same thing. 

b 



X 



upon the faith of that most contemptible of all legal evidence, a 
modern Scotch Retour! Clamorous as the Baronets have shown 
themselves for imaginary rights and supposed privileges formerly 
resisted, they now take but slight notice of the most serious defect 
in their constitution, the one most calculated to impair their dig- 
nity, and to bring their order into disrepute, namely, the want of a 
competent tribunal before which the right of every Baronet should 
be established. We may be told that such is to be one of the du- 
ties of the Chapters they are desirous of holding; but on such a 
Court (judging from the proceedings that have already emanated 
from the body, and of the elements of which it would probably be 
composed), we fear no reliance could be placed; and if anything of 
the kind were done, it fnust be formed by and depend entirely 
upon the government. Some of, if not all, the Judges of such a 
Court might however be Baronets, because it would be easy to find 
competent lawyers among the body, or they might be created for 
the purpose. 

" The claim to Supporters is thus stated: — 

" ' It is necessary under this head to show that Baronets are of 
the Order of Nobiles Majores. Now the Nobiles Majores are dis- 
tinguished from the Nobiles Minores by hereditary descent of title. 
I have shown by the Charters that Baronets enjoy an hereditary 
dignity, therefore if Supporters be distinctive of, and appropriate 
to those grades of hereditary rank theretofore existing in the State, 
namely, the Peers; and that Baronets are to be adjudged ' in all 
things relating to privilege and other matters by the same rules, 
laws, and customs, by which other degrees of dignity hereditary 
are ordered and adjudged,' then it follows that Supporters legiti- 
mately appertain to the Order of Baronets. This was the conclusion 
of Lord Lyon King of Arms, when he assigned Supporters to the 
Nova Scotia Baronets, a junior branch of the Order.' 

" In this assumption about Nobiles Majores, Playfair (perhaps 
the most worthless of all authorities) is cited; and we are then told 
that — 

" ' Anstis, in his treatise called Aspilogia, says, ' The practice of 
the Sovereigns of England granting Supporters to the Peers of 
each degree seems to have occurred in the reign of King Henry 
VIII., as did that of granting the like ornaments to the Arms of 
the Knights of the Garter, and of the Bath.' The right of these 
three privileged classes to bear Supporters was established prior to 
the accession of James I. to the British Monarchy; they were en- 
joyed by them respectively at the period when he founded the 
Order of Baronet or Minor Baron, and they continue in use to the 
present day. When therefore the Baronetage was erected, it is, I 
think, a fair presumption, that it was unnecessary to specify in the 
Royal Decree, that the Members of it should bear Supporters, that 
privilege having been incidentally conferred by the Charters grant- 
ing to the Baronets that they should be adjudged in all things re- 
lating to title, dignity, privilege and other matters, as other degrees 
of Hereditary Dignity then and theretofore were ordered and ad- 



xi 

judged: Its fairness may be drawn from the precedency of the 
Baronets above the Knights of the Bath; those Knights having 
Supporters, it is not unreasonable to argue that the superior Order 
should have them likewise.' 

" It may be as well to inform Mr. Crawford that the treatise 
called Aspilogia is supposed to have been written by the learned 
Spelman, and was printed at the end of Upton, ' De Studio Militari,' 
in 1 654, fifteen years before Anstis was born. 

" In the time of James I. Supporters were confined to Peers and 
Knights of the Garter; and they were not borne by Knights of the 
Bath until the creation of that Order as a regular Military Order 
of Knighthood by George I. in 1725, for which purpose a special 
statute was issued. The propriety of assigning some armorial dis- 
tinction to the Baronets did not escape their royal founder; and, 
by the Decree of 1612, which settled so many other points con- 
nected with their position and privileges, the King granted that 

* the Baronets and their descendants shall and may bear, either in 
a canton in their coat of arms, or in an inescutcheon, at their elec- 
tion, the arms of Ulster — that is, in a field argent a hand gules, or 
a bloody hand.' Not a word occurs about Supporters; and as the 
use of those heraldic ornaments was then as well known, and 
governed by as strict rules as at present, no one can believe that if 
it had been intended that Baronets should bear them, words to 
that effect would not have been introduced into the Decree. The 
' fair presumption that it was unnecessary to specify them, because 
it was a privilege 1 that the members of it should bear Supporters, 
that privilege having been incidentally conferred by the Charters 
granting to the Baronets that they should be adjudged in all things 
relating to title, dignity, privilege, and other matters, as other de- 
grees of Hereditary Dignity then and theretofore were ordered and 
adjudged,' is scarcely deserving of notice; for it is obvious, from 
the context, that this analogy is only to apply in cases of ' doubts 
or questions, not cleared and determined' by that Decree, or the 
former patents ' concerning place, iwecedency, 'privilege, or other 
matters touching the Baronets, their heirs -male apparent, their 
wives, their eldest sons and their wives, their daughters, their 
younger sons and their wives, or any of them.' In that clause, 

* privilege, or other matters,' are the only words that can, by any 
possible construction, include ' Supporters;' but the whole sentence 
shows that no other matters than those connected with place and 
precedency were contemplated, because the children and the wives 
of the sons of Baronets are placed in the same category as the 
Baronets themselves. Moreover (we must repeat), it is only when 
1 doubts or questions 7iot hereby, nor by any our recited letters-patent 
cleared and determined ' arise, that a reference to the usage respect- 
ing ' other hereditary dignities is to be made. But what doubt has 
ever arisen, or can properly or fairly arise, respecting the armorial 
bearings of Baronets, when that very Decree itself clearly and spe- 
cially points out what their armorial distinctions shall be ? On 
the next assertion, that the 'fairness of the claim' may be drawn 



xii 



from the precedency of the Baronets above the Knights of the 
Bath ■ those Knights having Supporters, it is not unreasonable to 
argue that the superior Order should have them likewise:' it is 
sufficient to remark, that, at the institution of Baronets, Knights 
of the Bath did not bear Supporters; that when they were assigned 
to them in 1725, the constitution of the Order had been entirely 
altered; that the Knights then consisted of only thirty-seven per- 
sons, and even now scarcely exceed one hundred, many of whom 
are Peers; that the Order of the Bath is one of the few rewards 
the Crown has to bestow for distinguished service to the State, 
whereas the first Baronets actually bought their dignity. There are 
now nine hundred Baronets, and they are constantly increasing ; so 
that, to extend the distinction, as an hereditary right, to so large a 
body, would inevitably destroy its value. Great stress is laid on 
the fact that Supporters are borne by the Baronets of Nova Scotia 
— or, more properly speaking, by the Baronets of Scotland. In 
that Kingdom, however, Supporters were never confined to the 
peerage, but have been, and still are, used by the Chiefs of Clans ; 
and Lord Lyon is empowered to grant them at his discretion, 
whereas no such power is vested either in Garter, or in Ulster 
King of Arms of Ireland, nor even in the Earl Marshal, except in 
the cases of Peers, Knights of the Garter, and Knights Grand Cross 
of the Royal Orders of Knighthood. Whether the Lord Lyon, who 
granted Supporters to the Baronets of Nova Scotia, was justified in 
doing so, has but slight bearing on the present occasion. The 
words of the patents of Nova Scotia Baronets, their number, and 
the usage in Scotland, are altogether different from those of Eng- 
land ; so that his decision, supposing it (which is by no means con- 
ceded) to have been a proper one, cannot be deemed a precedent 
for admitting the pretensions of the Baronets of England and Ire- 
land to the same distinction. 

" The next claim is so preposterous a one, that Mr. Crawford must 
himself describe it. After stating that the present Coronets were 
not assigned to the Barons of England until 1661, and to those of 
Ireland and Scotland in 1665, he says: — 

1(1 It will be obvious, therefore, that the Order of Baronets could 
not claim a Coronet as incidental to the dignity at the period of its 
erection; but as a Coronet has since been granted to Barons, to 
prevent the anomaly of Baronets being the only degree of hereditary 
dignity in this realm without a Coronet; and the Knight's helmet 
which they now bear being manifestly inappropriate, as belonging 
to their inferior personal degree, good grounds are open to the 
Baronets whereupon to prefer a petition praying Her Majesty to 
accord to them some distinctive head decoration.' 

" If the perusal of this passage should disturb the gravity of our 
readers, and if a certain triangular-shaped ornament, adorned with 
a number of little tintinnabulary appurtenances, should present 
itself to their imagination, we would remind them that such an 
article would be inappropriate to the present purpose, because a 
' head decoration' of that kind was not the mark of an ' hereditary 



xiii 



dignity/ but of personal and very amusing qualities. Coronets are 
not worn by Barons, nor by any other noblemen, on account of 
their ' hereditary dignity,' but as part of their parliamentary cos- 
tume as Peers; and though King Charles II. first assigned Coronets 
to Barons, those personages had long worn a Cap of Estate in Parlia- 
ment, to which that monarch merely added eight pearls or balls. 
But no such Cap, or other ' head decoration ' was given to Baronets 
by James I.; and the cause to which Mr. Crawford wishes the 
omission to be attributed is manifestly erroneous. 

" The style of ' The Honourable.' — Because the honorary epi- 
thets of ' Most Noble,' ' Most Honourable,' ' Right Honourable,' and 
' Honourable,' attributed to Dukes, Marquesses, Earls, Barons, and 
their children, ' originated entirely in the courtesy of society, and 
were not bestowed by the Crown, and are not perpetuated by Char- 
ter,' Mr. Crawford says, 1 use and wont form the only grounds by 
which any of the several grades of the Peerage can claim those 
honorary appellations;' and he adds, — 'and to show by precedent 
that the Baronetage is entitled to enjoy, and has enjoyed a similar 
right, is all, as I confidently submit, that is necessary to authorise 
its resumption.' 

Numerous instances are then given of the word 1 Honourable ' 
having been prefixed to the names of Baronets in the early part 
and middle of the seventeenth century. But while we admit the 
fact, it proves nothing in favour of the Baronets which it does not es- 
tablish in favour of Esquires, private Gentlemen of large landed pro- 
perty, Generals, Colonels, Admirals, and Justices of the Peace, to 
all of whom the appellation of ' Honourable' was then as frequently 
applied as to Baronets. Functionaries in the Colonies are to this 
day called ' The Honourable;' and in England we have c His Honour' 
the Vice-Chancellor, and ' His Honour ' the Master of the Rolls. 
Custom may be the only real foundation of the right of Peers to 
the titles of ' Most Noble,' and ' Most ' or ' Right Honourable,' as 
well as of their children to that of ' Honourable but the custom 
has in their case been adopted by the Crown, so as to possess as 
much authority, and those appellations are certainly as fully justi- 
fied as any title or appellation can be that is not expressly conferred 
by Letters-Patent, or by any Act of Parliament. But did the Crown 
ever recognise the pretensions of the Baronets to the designation 
of ' Honourable'? Have they ever even ascribed it to themselves? 
— or has it been attributed to them by the courtesy and usage of 
society, since it ceased to be a mere act of politeness to apply it to 
every gentleman distinguished by his reputation, by the extent of 
his property, or by the office he happened to hold? The sixteen 
pages of the address, containing proofs of a fact which no one ever 
denied, are therefore utterly wasted : but a still higher style seems 
to be claimed for Baronets. Mr. Crawford says — 

" ' From official documents it appears, that in the reign of James 
I. and Charles I., Lords of Parliament in Scotland were styled by 
the Crown ' Our Right Trustie and wel-beloved Cousin and Coun- 
sellor,' and that Baronets were styled ' Our trustie and well- 



XIV 



beloved Cousin and Counsellour,' — thus preserving the relation, in 
the descending scale, between Right Honourable and Honourable. 
This style occurs in a Royal Warrant of King Charles I., dated 
Whitehall, April 1631, addressed to the Justices of Ireland, in 
which mention is made of ' Our trustie and wel-beloved Cousin and 
Counsellour, Sir Walter Crosbie, Knight and Baronet.' ' 

" The address to Sir Walter Crosbie explains itself. He was not 
so styled because he was a Baronet, but because he was a Privy 
Councillor. What then could be the object of alluding to Sir 
Walter Crosbie's title, unless it were wished to raise an inference 
wholly without foundation 1 ? But no species of proof seems too 
ridiculous to be brought forward: — in 1617, the Letters -Patent 
creating the dignity, as well as the two subsequent patents, were 
printed by the King's printer, entitled ' Three Patents concerning 
the Honourable degree and dignity of Baronets} upon which Mr. 
Crawford seriously remarks: — 

" ' Now, in thus establishing that the Baronets upon the erection 
of the Order, and long afterwards, were styled ' the Honourable' 
by so many various grades of society, I must remind the Committee 
that it rests solely with themselves, whether they will revive a 
style, which has fallen into disuse. If they believe the evidence 
adduced to be conclusive, that Baronets formerly enjoyed the style, 
they will, in my opinion, be fully warranted in resuming it. The 
usage of society originated it, and it may be perpetuated by the 
same means.' 

" Let the reader mark well this beautiful specimen of evidence. 
The degree and dignity of Baronet is { an honourable degree ; ergo, 
every one entitled to that dignity may style himself ' the Honour- 
able.' Mr. Crawford forgets that the Order of the Garter is styled 
the u Most Noble Order,' and there the Bath is styled, not in a 
printer's title-page, but in letters-patent under the Great Seal, ' the 
Most Honourable Order;' but neither the Knights of the Garter 
nor of the Bath ever pretended to call themselves ( the Most Noble, 
' the Most Honourable,' nor even ( the Honourable.' The Society 
of the Middle Temple or Lincoln's Inn is 1 an Honourable Society,' 
and, according to this reasoning, all its members may call them- 
selves ' the Honourable.' Why then did not Mr. Crawford, who 
must be a member of one of the ' HonourabW Societies of the Inns 
of Court, style himself in his title-page, ' the Honourable William 
Crawford, M.A., Barrister-at-Law, Standing Counsel to the Order 1 ?' 

" A few more words of comment suggest themselves, which, how- 
ever, we shall defer for the present." 

[Second Notice.] 

" The claim to 1 Vestments and other Decorations of Estate,' 
rests partly upon the clause so repeatedly cited, that in cases of 
doubt the Baronets ' shall be ordered and adjudged in all matters 
as the other degrees of Dignity hereditary are ordered and ad- 
judged;' partly, ' upon the usual rules, custom, and laws, for place, 
precedency, and privilege;' and particularly upon the assumption 



XV 



1 that all the various degrees of Dignity personal have had assigned 
to them Vestments of Estate.' 

" Bobes of Office are certainly worn by the Judges, Chancellor 
of the Exchequer, Dignitaries of the Universities, Mayors, Alder- 
men, &c; but the only persons entitled to 1 Vestments of Estate' 
in England are Peers, and the Knights and Officers of the Orders 
of Knighthood. There is not, however, any analogy whatever be- 
tween those cases and that of Baronets. The Robes of Peers are, 
in fact, their Parliamentary Habit, and are worn on no other occa- 
sions than in Parliament and at Coronations. The Robes or Mantles 
of Knights of Orders are only worn in Capitular, or other Con- 
ventions of the Knights, which Conventions are ordained by their 
constitution. But no Robes were assigned to Baronets, probably 
because it was never intended (so far at least as appears from the 
letters-patent), that they should meet as a Capitular body, or (as 
must be inferred from their never having been summoned) attend 
a Coronation, Royal Funeral, or other solemn ceremonial. ' Vest- 
ments of Estate ' would be useless if there were no occasions on 
Avhich they could properly be worn; and it is obvious that two 
of the other points contended for — namely, the right of holding 
Chapters, and of attending Coronations, &c, must first be conceded, 
before the desired Vestments could be of the slightest service. In- 
deed, the simple fact that neither Vestments nor personal Decora- 
tions were assigned to Baronets by the Founder, is almost con- 
clusive, that he did not intend that the Institution should bear 
any resemblance to Military Orders of Knighthood ; and the pro- 
mise to Knight Baronets, if they wished it, is another proof of the 
distinct nature of the new and the old Dignity. 

" Upon the claim to hold Chapters, it is only necessary to ob- 
serve, that the Baronets are not by their constitution a Capitular 
body, and that as all their legitimate rights and privileges are 
clearly and amply defined, in the letters-patent of 1611, 1612, and 
1616, no necessity for holding Chapters exists. Between Baronets 
and Knights of Orders there is no resemblance on that subject, be- 
cause the principal reason of Knights assembling in a Chapter is 
for the purpose of perpetuating their body by Election to vacancies, 
whereas no Baronet was ever elected by his brethren; nor can a 
Baronet, like a Knight of the Garter or Bath, be deprived of his 
dignity, even by a unanimous vote of the whole body. 

" Mr. Crawford says, — 

" £ Among other reasons why a necessity exists for a Chapter, I 
shall adduce the following: — Although the Order was erected in 
1611, and, as the Heralds say, the privileges and other matters 
concerning Baronets were fully defined and ascertained, yet in 1783 
it was found necessary to pass a Regulation, under the Royal Signet, 
for the correction of divers abuses which had crept into the Baron- 
etage, and for preventing persons assuming the title of Baronet 
without legal authority. This Regulation occasioned a General 
Meeting of the Order on 31st May 1784, when a Petition to his 
Majesty George III. was drawn up, embodying the opinion of that 



XVI 



Meeting, that it would subject those, who were really entitled to 
that honour and dignity, to numberless inconveniences and expen- 
ses, without being an effectual means of preventing abuses. This 
Regulation is registered in the Herald's College, whence Mr. Broun 
extracted it. The grievance has not been remedied to the present 
day, for it is notorious that persons have assumed the title, without 
a particle of evidence to support the assumption ; and there are in- 
stances of persons of the same name, styling themselves Baronets 
by virtue of one and the same Patent, granted to their real or pre- 
tended ancestor. Besides, there are persons created by the Claim- 
ant to the Earldom of Stirling, who affects to have a Charter from 
the Crown, enabling him to grant the dignity of Baronet of Nova 
Scotia. 

" ' Again, although the original Charters covenanted with the 
Baronets and their heirs-male, that no new grade should have place 
or precedency, or intervene between the Barons and Baronets; yet 
we find an infringement upon that solemn compact in the reign 
of George III. by the erection of the Order of the Knights of St. 
Patrick in 1783, by the warrant creating which Order it is declared, 
that 'it is farther our will and pleasure, that the said Knights, 
being Commoners, shall have rank and precedency in all places im- 
mediately after Barons' eldest Sons.' Now it is immaterial for my 
argument that Commoners never have been made Knights of St. 
Patrick; — the power to create Commoners exists, and it is compe- 
tent for any Minister to advise Her Majesty to elevate a Commoner 
to that high honour, at any time. Where, then, is the Chapter to 
expostulate against such an invasion of your Chartered rights, and 
to oppose it by all loyal and constitutional means 1 

" ' Again, his late Majesty George IV., by letters-patent bearing 
date the 19th December 1827, revoked the clause in the original 
Decree of King James I., which declared and promised for that 
King, his heirs and successors, that the Baronets and their eldest 
sons, or heirs-male apparent, should be Knighted on their coming 
of age, after having complied with the mode of application therein 
prescribed. Here again the Chapter might interpose, and assert 
their rights under Royal Charter, and it might fairly be argued, 
that, if the precedent were allowed, and that George IV. had a 
right to curtail the Order of any of its Chartered privileges — it 
would be equally competent for him, or any of his successors, to 
abrogate and abolish the whole.' 

" In the first of these cases it seems the Baronets did meet, and 
came to a resolution which certainly betrayed great indifference 
about their true Dignity, for they objected to a measure proposed 
by the Crown for preventing impostors from assuming the title. 
If they had been authorised to hold Chapters, all they could have 
done would have been to meet and remonstrate : — meet and remon- 
strate however they did — but with what respect for their Order or 
credit to themselves, it is not necessary to inquire. In the second 
case it was surely as competent for the Baronets to have met with- 
out a Chapter, and to have remonstrated against the creation of 



xvii 



the Order of St. Patrick, as it was for them to meet in the following 
year, when they remonstrated, and effectually too, against the in- 
tended investigation of the pedigrees of all persons calling them- 
selves Baronets. It seems difficult to avoid the conclusion that 
upon a mere point of honour, though they supposed that it involved 
an essential part of their rights and privileges, the Baronets were 
silent and supine — but that the moment a measure calculated to 
maintain effectually the reputation of the Order was proposed, but 
which would necessarily cause each of them, for once only in their 
several lives, a little trouble and some expense, they vigorously re- 
sisted it ! With respect to the third and last instance, Mr. Craw- 
ford may be assured that no proceedings on the part of the Baron- 
ets, not even if they had met in solemn Chapter, wearing 6 thumb 
rings, spurs, and plumes,' or their ' appropriate head decoration ' to 
boot, would have prevented the omission in all future patents of 
the improvident and inconvenient covenant to Knight the heirs- 
apparent of Baronets. 

" While alluding to the Order of St. Patrick, it is proper to ob- 
serve that it is very doubtful whether the institution of that Order 
was a violation of the promise alluded to, inasmuch as it was created 
in Ireland before the Union; and the covenant in the Patent of 
1611 referred only to ' this our kingdom of England.'' 

" The claim to attend Coronations and Royal Funerals, &c. 
is easily answered. Except the Knights of the Bath, who were 
usually created at Coronations, all the persons who attend that 
ceremony are functionaries, — namely, Peers, the Great Officers of 
State, Officers of the Household, Judges, &c, and they all attend 
upon the Sovereign in the character of functionaries. Neither 
Knights Bachelors, nor Knights of the Thistle, St. Patrick, St. 
Michael, or St. George, are summoned to Coronations, Royal Fu- 
nerals, or other great Ceremonials, though of each of those bodies 
the Sovereign is himself a constituent member. Why then should 
Baronets, who are not functionaries, and to whose institution the 
Sovereign does not even belong, require from him a mark of consi- 
deration which he withholds from his own Knights? The 'heredi- 
tary dignity ' of Baronets affords them no pretensions to be present, 
because even Peers do not attend on account of their dignities 
being hereditary, but because they are Counsellors of the Crown 
and Peers of the Realm, who have public duties of the highest and 
most important nature to perform. 

" The claim to a Badge seems mainly founded on the circum- 
stance that a Badge is worn by the Baronets of Nova Scotia. 
King Charles the First created that body in 1625, ' for advancing 
the plantation of Nova Scotia in America, and settling a colony 
there.' By their patents a tract of land was assigned to each of 
them. Their rights and privileges are very similar to the Baronets 
of England ; but instead of bearing the ' Arms of Ulster ' in their 
Arms, the'heraldic distinction assigned them consisted of the Arms 
of Nova Scotia, which they might bear either in a canton or ines- 
cutcheon, at their pleasure. On the 17th of November 1629, the 

c 



XVD1 



King, in a Royal Warrant to the Privy Council of Scotland, after 
reciting that for the better advancement of the Plantation of New- 
Scotland, his late father intended to institute, and that he himself 
had since ' created the order and title of Baronet in our ancient 
Kingdom,' and ' seeing that Sir William Alexander, Lieutenant of 
New Scotland, hath now a colony where his son Sir William is now 
resident,' thus proceeded — £ We being most willing to afford all 
the possible means of encouragement that conveniently we can to 
the Baronets of that our ancient Kingdom, for the furtherance of 
so good a work ; and to the effect they may be honoured and have 
place in all respects according to their patents from us, we have 
been pleased to authorise and allow, as by these presents, for us 
and our successors, we authorise and allow the said Lieutenant and 
Baronets, and every one of them, and their heirs-male, to wear and 
carry about their necks, in all times coming, an orange tawny silk 
Ribbon, whereon shall hang pendant, in an Inescutcheon argent, a 
saltire azure, thereon an inescutcheon of the arms of Scotland, with 
an Imperial Crown above the scutcheon, and encircled with this 
motto: Fax Mentis Hanestce Gloria; which Cognizance our said 
present Lieutenant shall deliver now to them from us, that they 
may be the better known and distinguished from other persons.' 

" Power was then given to the Privy Council of Scotland to 
punish persons who improperly took precedence of these Baronets, 
their wives or children, or who presumed to wear their Cognizance, 
by fine and imprisonment, ' that others may be terrified from at- 
tempting the like/ 

" Under that warrant, all Baronets of Nova Scotia, created before 
November 1629, and their heirs-male, are undoubtedly authorised 
to wear the Badge therein described ; but the right of those sub- 
sequently made is extremely doubtful. Nothing occurs in that 
document respecting any other Baronets than those already created. 
On the contrary, the privilege seems, from every word of the in- 
strument, to be confined to the existing persons and their succes- 
sors in the Dignity. Unless, then, the patents of all the Baronets 
of Nova Scotia, created since 1629, contain an express grant of the 
Badge, they cannot be entitled to it. It appears from the follow- 
ing statement in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1775, that the use 
of the Badge had long been discontinued: — ' November 20. — 
Several Scotch Baronets appeared at Court in the ensigns of an 
Order which has lain dormant near 150 years. It was originally 
called a Nova Scotia Order, and has been lately revived.' This 
proceeding did not, however, pass unnoticed. The Earl of Suffolk, 
then Earl Marshal, immediately ' required that the claim of the 
Baronets to the distinction of wearing the Riband and Jewel of 
their Order, should be referred to his Majesty's Attorney and Soli- 
citor-Generals for England, and the Lord Advocate and Solicitor- 
General for Scotland.' The answer of the Baronets to the inquiry 
for their authority to wear the Badge, contained no sort of justifica- 
tion; and then left the question of legal right untouched. They 
merely said — ' The privilege is extremely dear to us. Our lives 



xix 

and fortunes we would, without fear, trust in the hands of the four 
gentlemen pointed out by your Lordship, but we cannot submit 
our family honours to any body. We will be so frank as to own to 
your Lordship, that we should not wish to have honours which de- 
pend upon any voice except that of our Sovereign or the Laws.' 
Under theso circumstances, so far from the Badge of the Nova 
Scotia Baronets forming a precedent for assigning a Badge to all the 
Baronets of England and Ireland, the legal right to that Badge 
appears to be confined to less than half of the whole number of 
Scottish Baronets ; and it was not generally worn by them until 
about a century and a half after the institution of that Order. 

" There is a great distinction between the Badge of an Order of 
Knighthood and the Badge of an hereditary Dignity; and while 
the former may be a legitimate object of ambition, a desire for the 
latter originates in mere personal vanity. An Order of Knighthood 
is presumed to be, and often is, the reward of services to the Coun- 
try, and its ensigns are the outward and visible proofs of the Royal 
favour and of the merit of the individual. But a Badge of heredi- 
tary rank would merely indicate that the wearer had inherited a 
certain degree and station, — in other words, that he was a Baronet. 
The case is, we admit, slightly different in the instances of persons 
who have themselves been created Baronets; but as the claim is 
made upon the ground that the Dignity is hereditary, it must be 
treated accordingly. We must repeat, that it is not the fact, that 
all other hereditary Degrees are distinguished even at Court, much 
less in general society, by Badges or dress ; and if Baronets are to 
bear marks of their rank, a. fortiori ought the higher hereditary 
order of Peers. Except at Coronations or in Parliament, even a 
Duke bears no sign of his elevated station ; and no one can distin- 
guish a Peer at - a Levee (unless he happens to be a Knight of the 
Garter, Thistle, or St. Patrick), from the humblest commoner. Sup- 
posing, however, the Baronets were to succeed in their wish, and 
to be labelled like decanters, what possible pretence had they to a 
Star? That ornament is a Knightly ensign, radiated with silver; 
but of what Order, in the proper sense of the word, would a Ba- 
ronet's Star be the ensign? Baronets are not Knights, though, 
like all others of the Queen's male subjects, they may be Knighted, 
and as Knights of Orders, many of them wear Stars and Badges. 
But why should Baronets wear a Badge, much more a Star, when 
Peers (except in Parliament and at Coronations) are undistin- 
guished, and have never sought either the one or the other ? On 
the ground of ' hereditary dignity,' the Baronets have no preten- 
sions that are not possessed in a greater degree by Peers; and they 
cannot elaim such decorations from any analogy to Orders of 
Knighthood, for the simple reason that the constitution of their 
Order is radically and totally different from that of every British 
Order of Knighthood. 

" This is not the first time the Baronets have put forth claims of 
this kind, but their pretensions were never before so extravagant. 
As early as 1627, a petition was referred for the opinion of the 



XX 



Heralds, and a report was signed by two of the Kings of Arms and 
four Heralds. After adverting to the Eobes of the Nobility, and to 
the Insignia of the Garter and Bath, the Heralds stated their opinion 
in these words: — 

" ' The consideration whereof moveth us to be of opinion that if 
there were respective ornaments worn for the distinction of the de- 
gree of Baronet, and Order of Knights Bachelors, it would no way 
be unfit or inconvenient either to his Majesty or his Subjects. But 
whether his Majesty's pleasure in this behalf should be declared by 
proclamation, and what the marks of difference in these cases should 
be, we must (as in duty bound) humbly leave the same to the con- 
sideration of his Majesty.' 

" Nothing, however, appears to have been done. 

" To this report Mr. Crawford particularly alludes, but he is 
entirely silent respecting a similar request in 1783, which after 
being fully considered, was refused. A few years ago, the subject 
was again agitated by, we believe, Mr. Broun, the eldest son of Sir 
James Broun, a Baronet of Nova Scotia, and the author of the other 
tract, which we are about to notice. Under that gentleman's aus- 
pices, aided by the exertions of Mr. Crawford, who was made 
' Standing Counsel to the Order,' repeated meetings of Baronets 
have been held; and though many of the most ancient members of 
that body have wisely held themselves aloof, while others, still more 
wisely, have publicly deprecated the whole affair, 400 Baronets are 
said to be parties to, or at least approvers of the proceedings. Their 
first measure was to petition his late Majesty, who seems to have 
been disposed to assign them a Badge; but the petition being re- 
ferred to the Secretary of State, he desired the Heralds to make a 
report on the subject. That document, judging from the extract 
cited by Mr. Crawford, appears to have been drawn up with equal 
ability and impartiality. In one point only do we differ from the 
report. The Heralds say ' The style of the ' Honourable ' is given 
to the Judges and to the Barons of the Exchequer with others, be- 
cause by the decree of the 10th of King James I., for settling the 
place and precedency of the Baronets, the Judges and Barons of 
the Exchequer, as well as others therein mentioned, were declared 
to have place and precedence before the younger Sons of Viscounts 
and Barons.' We would submit, however, that the Judges derived 
the style of ' Honourable ' from the importance and dignity of their 
Office, without any reference to their place in the table of prece- 
dency; and it must be remembered, that Knights of the Garter and 
Knights Bannerets precede the younger sons of Viscounts and Ba- 
rons, though they are not called ' Honourable.' 

" The rank of Baronet, having existed for upwards of two cen- 
turies, is undoubtedly entitled to respect and consideration; and 
from its comparative antiquity, and the services of many of those 
upon whom it has been conferred, the unchivalrous and mercenary 
character of its origin is almost forgotten. Its royal Founder took 
extraordinary pains to fix the position of its members, and to define 
and explain all the rights, privileges, and distinctions, with which 



xxi 

he thought fit to endow them; and no rational person can deny 
that these advantages are ample for every purpose. We would 
therefore suggest to the Baronets, that they are impairing the real 
dignity of their institution when they crave for trifles wholly in- 
compatible with the nature of their Order, and which, in the opinion 
of the world at large, are unworthy of any man's ambition. Many 
of the proceedings of the Committee are calculated to excite ridi- 
cule; and we would ask any Baronet, endowed with the slightest 
degree of common sense, what his countrymen must think of four 
hundred educated English gentlemen, in the nineteenth century, 
meeting in solemn conclave, entering into serious debate, petition- 
ing the Crown, and publishing in newspapers and pamphlets, that 
they earnestly desire to be called 1 Honourable,' to wear gold Spurs, 
Sashes, Thumb-Rings, Scarfs, white Plumes, Badges, Stars, Green 
vests, and ' Head Decorations.' 1 

" Our respect for the Baronets induces us to urge upon their at- 
tention two objects, which would do more to raise their Order, in 
public estimation, than anything yet proposed, — one of which en- 
tirely rests with themselves, and the other would probably meet 
with the approbation and assistance of the Government. First, 
let the Baronets form a permanent fund for the relief of the decayed 
members of their Order, and their families. Secondly, let them 
request that a tribunal shall be established, before which every 
Baronet must prove his right to his title, in the same way as Peers 
prove their succession. If this were done, the Crown would be 
aware that the Baronets really felt interested in the credit of their 
Order ; and it might, on its part, assist in so laudable an effort, by 
conferring the Honour in future, only upon persons of sufficient 
fortune to support an hereditary Dignity. But the Baronets may 
rest assured that this absurd craving for personal ornaments only 
tends to cast ridicule upon their institution, as well as upon all who 
have taken part in the recent proceedings. Whose gravity can 
resist the pathetic peroration of their learned Counsel"?: — 

" 6 Finally, while you solicit from our young and beloved Queen 
the completion of her Eoyal Uncle's beneficent intentions towards 
the Order, you will remember that the object of your erection was 
expressed to be, that you might be ' mean betwixt the Barons and 
the Knights:' That you consequently form the link connecting 
the Peers with the People : That you are, from the nature of your 
dignity, Conservators of the National equipoise. Maintain there- 
fore with firmness your rights — resume your dormant privileges — 
' surround the Royal Standard of the Queen, for the defence of the 
same ;' and with so sacred a trust, reposed in such hands, the proud 
Standard of Britain may be boldly unfurled, in defiance of foreign 
or domestic aggression.' 

" Mr. Brouns pamphlet is addressed to the Wives of Baronets, 
whom he styles ' Baronetesses,' exhorting them to maintain their 
privileges, and teaching them in what manner * they, their daughters 
and daughters-in-law, can understand their lawful rank and place in 
society, with the immunities and distinctions thereunto belonging.' 



XXII 



But alas for these fair dames, if they trust to such a guide ! — for 
the code he offers them ' swarms' (to use his own phrase) with 
ignorance and folly. He informs them that their ' husbands con- 
stitute an Order of High Nobility /' — that 1 that woman, being a 
Baronetess, must possess few sentiments of chivalrous magnanimity, 
and be unworthy of her station among the high ennobled Matron- 
age of England, who shall fail to maintain her first and lawful 
position as a member of the sixth class of the High Nobility of 
Great Britain !' — that they are entitled ' to have Habits of dignity, 
a Coronet, Supporters, and other insignia;' that it is ' an unques- 
tionable truth that Baronets and their Ladies have been styled 
' Honourable ' for time immemorial,'' (the dignity itself never having 
been heard of until 1611!); that 'they do not lose their rank 
should they afterwards form another marriage with persons of in- 
ferior rank to their first husbands;' that ' Baronets' Daughters are 
Knightesses (! !) by rank;' and that ' the Wives of Baronets' eldest 
Sons are entitled to wear the Golden Collar of SS, a Eobe, with a 
Chaplet or Cap of Dignity.' He advises them to abandon the title 
of c Lady A.' or ' Lady B.,' and to ' have themselves announced as 
' the Baronetess A.' or ' the Baronetess B.,' and to revive their an- 
cient honorary style of ' the Honourable,' and to resume the Golden 
Collar of SS, and other ornaments, which the wives of Equites 
Aurati wore on court occasions and days of ceremony in former 
days.' 

" Most of these fallacies have been exposed in our remarks on 
Mr. Crawford's address ; and it would be an utter waste of time and 
space to bestow another line upon Mr. Broun' s performance." 

At a more recent date this person, Broun,* favoured the public 
with a " Baronetage" of the Empire, in which the same vagaries 
are insisted on and retained. 

* Apropos, there is an intense affectation in the orthography of the name. 
So far from Broun being uncommon and aristocratic, it is the very reverse. 
The old and familiar name was Browne. By the spelling of our " JEJques 
Auratus" we are reminded of a pleasant and authentic anecdote connected 
with the ancestor of the present proprietor of Johnstonburn, a small property 
somewhere about Haddington, the possession of which entitles him, more 
Scotico, to style himself " Of." The first of this tribe kept a shop in Edin- 
burgh. He purchased Braid, which his son by extravagance lost. The father 
or son married a daughter of an Edinburgh Bailie named Crokat, to whom 
this place Johnstonburn belonged. This individual, after demitting his office 
of Bailie, Avas appointed Admiral of Leith, — a civic trumpery. A case once 
came before him, brought against the skipper of a vessel for the value of a 
squirrel which had been drowned while in his custody. The defence was 
that it had accidentally jumped out of the cabin window and committed un- 
intentional suicide. " What for," quoth this ' High Admiral,' " did ye no 
clip its wings'?" " Clip its wings, my Lord !" was the response, " it's not a 
bird, but a quadruped." " Ped here, ped there," rejoined Solon, " ye should 
hae clipped its wings. Decern ! " 

The son of Miss Crokat and Mr. Johnston got a situation, by the emolu- 
ments of which the estate of Johnstonburn was procured. This situation he 
acquired by means of the influence of an uncle who sold seeds and such like 
minute merchandise, and who, it is believed, was a member of the Town- 
Council. 



XX111 



Accidentally., at the recent sale of Mr. Deuchar's rubbish, we 
picked up the printed report of a meeting relative to the deceptive 
Association, which it is advisable also to preserve, as well as the 
interesting epistle, holograph of the " Honorary Secretary," written 
on its reverse. 

" NOVA SCOTIA CLAIMS. 

"At a Meeting of Baronets of Scotland, and Others having interest in 
Lands in British America, holden at No. 3, Great Cumberland 
Place, London, 2d February 1842 ; 

"The Hon. Sir Frederic Hamilton, Bart, in the Chair; 

" The Minutes of the last Meeting, held at the Thatched House, 
St. James's, on the 6th of April, the Most Noble the Marquess of 
Hun-tlt, K. T. in the Chair, were read and confirmed. 

" Mr. Broun reported : — That pursuant to the Resolutions of the 
last Meeting, the proceedings on that day had been printed and 
sent to the absent Members of the Order ; that a Meeting had 
taken place on the 28th of April following, as appointed ; that not 
forming so large an assemblage as was to be desired, the Baronets 
present had not come to any definite conclusions as to the course 
of procedure to be adopted ; but that he (Mr. B.) had more fully 
brought under consideration the propriety of forming an Associa- 
tion of a public nature, for the combined purposes of promoting 
Emigration, establishing the rights, and managing the properties 
in North America of the Baronets and others who should join it. 

" Further, Mr. Broun reported: — That during the course of last 
Session the Constitution of such an Association had been prepared 
at a series of Meetings held for that purpose ; but that from the 
dissolution of Parliament, the change of Ministry, and other politi- 
cal movements, the final organization of the Association had been 
delayed till the present time. 

" The Prospectus of ' The Scottish and British- American As- 
sociation FOR THE FURTHERANCE OF COLONIZATION AND EMIGRATION ' 

was laid before the Meeting, and it was reported that his Grace the 
Duke of Argyll had consented to accept the Office of President of 
the Association, and that it had already received the approval and 
support of many influential Members of the Order. 

" The nature of the Association was explained to the Meeting, 
and is briefly as follows: — It is to be composed of two classes of 
Shareholders, proprietors and capitalists — the former to bring in 
land, the latter money. To these two elements of wealth is to be 
added population, and the profits of the three combined will be di- 
vided periodically amongst the Proprietary. 

" Under this plan, every Baronet joining the Association will 
be allowed for such lands in Nova Scotia as he may assign to the 
Association, £1 per acre; two-thirds of the purchase-money to be 
liquidated in paid up shares, the remainder in cash, subject only to 
the deduction of any expenses that the Association may incur by 



XXIV 



recovering the same. On these terms, each Baronet joining the 
Association will be relieved by it from the personal trouble and 
expense of prosecuting his individual claim, whilst in the event of 
a successful issue he would farther be relieved from the anxiety and 
outlay of colonizing his grant. Thus assuming that each Baronet 
joining the Association, shall through its instrumentality obtain a 
new grant of 16,000 acres in lieu of his original grant, for the mere 
benefit which the Association will obtain from his influence and 
cooperation, he will receive £5,333 : 6 : 8 in cash, and hold paid up 
shares for £10,666 : 13 : 4, upon which there will be a yearly aug- 
menting dividend, as the resources of the Country shall be progres- 
sively developed under the exertions of the Association. 

" It was also stated that the Association was to be under the 
effective management of a Board of Commissioners, to be composed 
partly of Baronets and partly of Shareholders, aided by a COURT, 
to comprehend the President, Vice-Presidents, Trustees, and Com- 
missioners ; that the Constitution contains special clauses protect- 
ing the above-mentioned Officers against liabilities, and limiting 
the responsibility of Shareholders to the amount of their respective 
subscriptions to the capital Stock ; that conditional arrangements 
have been made for commencing operations upon a tract of land in 
Canada, admirably adapted, from its geographical position, to be 
the centre of the transactions of a great and powerful Association ; 
and that such an undertaking, if taken up in a national spirit, and 
carried out with energy, could not fail to be attended with vast 
advantage, not only to those embarking in it, but to the public at 
large. 

"Further it was reported: — That the Baronets, the Commis- 
sioners, and the Professional Advisers, by whom the Association 
has been formed, and its constitution matured, had for some time 
past given their best attention to the course of procedure now to 
be adopted relative to the Nova Scotia claims j that it appeared to 
them, under all the circumstances of the case, to be the most pro- 
per and judicious mode to present a Memorial to the Secretary of 
State for the Colonial Department, for a new grant of unlocated 
land along the disputed frontier in New Brunswick, in lieu of the 
grants originally made; that the adoption of this course (which 
could be strongly urged on the favourable consideration of the 
Government, upon the ground that it would not disturb the exist- 
ing Settlers, that it would most effectually strengthen British con- 
nection along the boundary line of the United States, and that it 
would provide an ample outlet for the distress existing in Scotland 
from surplus population) would not bar the Baronets, and others 
interested, from having recourse to legal proceedings, should the 
prayer of the Memorial not be granted; and that as the Government 
has just appointed a Commissioner (Lord Ashburton) to go out to 
America to arrange the disputed Boundary Question, and is further 
understood to be favourable to Emigration as a great mode of relief 
for national distress, it was desirable that no time should now be 
lost in presenting the Memorial, should it be approved of by the 
Meeting. 



XXV 



" The Memorial was then submitted. It contained in historical 
order an abstract of all the Royal Charters, Acts of Parliament, and 
proceedings of the Privy Council, relating to the erection and ob- 
jects of the Scottish Baronetage during the reigns of James VL, 
Charles L, the Commonwealth, and the reigns of Charles II. and 
James VII. It showed that the rights of the Baronets were recog- 
nised and allowed by Acts of the Crown so late as 1698 ; that 
they were secured by the Act of Union ; that they were reserved 
by the Treaty of Breda in 1713, by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 
in 1748, and were finally revived and restored by the Treaty of 
Paris in 1763. It accounted for proceedings not having been 
adopted for the revival of these rights, by the Revolt of the Ameri- 
can States in 1775, by the French Revolution, and the long conti- 
nental wars following thereupon. It set forth the mutual benefits 
which would flow to Scotland and Nova Scotia from the revival of 
the rights and objects of the Baronetage of Scotland, and it termi- 
nated by praying the Colonial Secretary to advise Her Majesty to 
make a consolidated grant of unappropriated lands in British Ame- 
rica equivalent to the original grants of 16,000 acres for each of 
the Members of the Order, subject to the condition of the efficient 
settlement and colonization of the same within a period to be limited 
by Her Majesty, and for which provision has been made through 
the machinery of the Association hereinbefore mentioned. 

" The Meeting having taken into due consideration these various 
statements and reports, and deliberated upon the same, the following 
Resolutions were proposed, discussed, and unanimously adopted: — 

" 1st, That in the opinion of this Meeting ' The Scottish and 
British Association for Promoting Emigration and Coloni- 
zation' is well adapted to relieve Scotland of her surplus po- 
pulation, to strengthen British interests in North America, 
and to effect the combined objects of establishing the rights, 
and making available the properties in British America of 
such Baronets as shall join it. 

" 2d, That as the union and cooperation of every Member of the 
Baronetage of Scotland is needed to raise and successfully pro- 
secute the valuable rights and privileges vested in the Order 
by the Acts and Charters of King James I., and King Charles 
I., the names of the Baronets (not being Peers) who have 
hitherto concurred in the proceedings shall now be added to 
the Consulting Council of the Association; and such other 
Baronets (not being Peers) as have not hitherto sent in their 
adhesion, shall be requested to allow their names to be added 
to the Consulting Council. 

" 3d, That the names of the Peers, being Baronets, who concur in 
the proceedings shall now be placed in the list of Vice-Presi- 
dents of the Association ; and that such Peers, being Baronets, 
as have not yet signified their adhesion, shall be requested to 
allow their names to be added to the Vice-Presidents. 

" 4th, That no Peer or Baronet joining the Association, shall 

d 



XXVI 



by doing so incur any liabilities or expense beyond the Sub- 
scription (not less than £5 each) agreed upon at a former 
Meeting to defray the preliminary expenses. 
" 5th, That the Memorial now submitted be adopted, signed by 
the Chairman of the Meeting on behalf of all such Baronets, 
and others having interest in Nova Scotia, as now or hereafter 
may concur in its prayer, and forthwith be presented to the 
Right Hon. Lord Stanley, Secretary of State for the Colonial 
Department. 

" 6th, That a Letter be addressed to Lord Stanley, with the 
Memorial, to request that an opportunity may be afforded to 
the Baronets of a conferrence with his Lordship on the subject 
of the Memorial, prior to his Lordship making an order upon 
its prayer. 

" 7th, That the proceedings of this Meeting be communicated 
to the absent Members of the Order — and that each of them 
be requested to write in reply, and to address their answers 
to ' R. Broun, Esq. Scottish and British-American Association, 
29, New Bridge Street, Blackfriars, London,' — to whom all 
communications and Subscriptions are to be sent. 

" Frederick Hamilton, Bart., Chairman" 

On the back hereof is written — 

" 29, New Bridge Street, Blackfriars, London, 
"Uth Feb. 1842. 

" Sir, — In reply to your letter, I transmit to you the proceed- 
ings of a meeting held on the 2d instant. 

" You are entitled to join the Association as the heir of line of 
the Blackadders of Tulliallan, who had a grant of 16,000 acres of 
land in Nova Scotia, — and on remitting to me £5, I will add 
your name to the list of Baronets and others concurring in the 
proceedings. — I am, Sir, your obedient servant, R. Broun." 

To whom this epistle was addressed, does not appear. But it is 
believed that Mr. Oliphant of Condie is the representative of the 
old family of Blackadder of Tulliallan, through female descent. 



In the " Edinburgh Evening Courant" of 27th March 1823, we 
read the following: — 

" On the 22d March 1823, at Haddington, in presence of the 
Sheriff of the county, the Right Reverend George Pretyman Tom- 
line, Lord Bishop of Winchester, &c. was, by a distinguished jury, 
of whom Lord Viscount Maitland was Chancellor, served heir-male 
in general of Sir Thomas Pretyman, Bart, of Nova Scotia, who died 
about the middle of last century. His Lordship also established his 
right to the ancient Baronetcy of Nova Scotia, conferred by Charles I. 
on Sir John Pretyman of Loddington, the male ancestor of Sir Tho- 
mas. The family of Pretyman, originally from Suffolk, and of great 
antiquity in that county, has produced many individuals celebrated 



xxvii 



for their virtue and loyalty. Although possessed of ample estates, 
they had, like many others, the misfortune to lose them all in the 
cause of Charles II., whose ingratitude to his faithful adherents is 
so notorious. Amid the vicissitudes of human life, it is pleasing to 
contemplate the revival of an ancient family in the person of a 
respected prelate, the friend and instructor of the immortal Pitt. 
The family were connected by marriage with the Stewarts, Earls of 
Bothwell, hereditary High Sheriffs of Haddingtonshire, on which 
account the service took place in that county. After the service, 
the noblemen and gentlemen of the jury partook of an elegant en- 
tertainment at Blackwell's. In the course of the evening, many 
appropriate toasts were given, which were enlivened by the taste 
and harmony of Gow and his excellent band; and the evening 
passed away with the utmost conviviality and cheerfulness." 

On this event, the author of his life, in the 13th vol. of " The 
Annual Biography and Obituary" for 1829, after narrating Dr. 
Pretyman's repeated acquisition of fortune, says — " To these super- 
fluities of wealth was shortly after added, for Mrs. Tomline's grati- 
fication (the Bishop himself was said to be indifferent to it), an 
accession of honour. On the 22d of March 1823, at Haddington, 
in the presence of the Sheriff of the County, Bishop Tomline was, 
by a distinguished jury, of whom Lord Viscount Maitland was 
Chancellor, served heir-male in general of Sir Thomas Pretyman, 
Baronet of Nova Scotia, who died about the middle of the last 
century; and his Lordship also established his right to the ancient 
baronetcy of Nova Scotia, conferred by Charles the First on Sir 
John Pretyman of Loddington, the male ancestor of Sir Thomas. 
The Bishop's eldest son now declines to assume this title." — P. 214. 

The fact of the service is undoubted : that of the establishment of 
right is quite another thing ; as certainly would have appeared had 
the menaced inquiry on the part of the Crown taken place, but 
which the death of the Bishop, and his son's prudent declinature to 
assume the title, prevented. 

Connected with the Bishop's marvellous assumption, the following 
articles appeared in the London newspapers : — 

"AN HERALDIC QUERY. 
" To the Editor of the ' Courier: 

May 24, [1824.] 

" Sir, — As an old Nova Scotia Baronet, I had the honour of 
paying my dutiful respects to my Sovereign, at the Drawing-room 
on Thursday last, on which occasion I wore the badge belonging to 
my Order. A tawny-coloured ribband, with a similar badge ap- 
pendant, around the neck of the Lord Bishop of Winchester, very 
naturally excited my attention and surprise; and I should have 
thought it a visual deception, if I had not observed, in the list of 
presentations published in your paper of Friday, the name of 1 Lady 
Pretyman Tomline.' I have since called at the Heralds' College, in 
the hope of gaining some information upon this, to me, interesting 



XXV111 



subject ; but I was there distinctly assured that the Bishop is not 
recognised by the members of that ancient body as a Baronet of 
either of the three kingdoms. Some one of your antiquarian cor- 
respondents may perhaps assist me to an elucidation of this point. 
I trust, therefore, that you will allow me to avail myself of the 
extensive circulation of your Journal, for the purpose of requesting 
that favour. If it should appear that we have the honour of reckon- 
ing the Right Rev. Prelate amongst the Baronets of Nova Scotia, I 
shall be anxious for a reference to the date of the creation, in order 
that I may be enabled to regulate the precedency of the ladies of 
my family, at our expected visit in the vicinity of Farnham Castle. 
I remain, your constant reader, " A Nova Scotia Baronet." 

"NOVA SCOTIA BAKONETS. 

" To the Editor of the 'Courier: 

" Sir, — An attempt has been made, through the medium of your 
paper, to impugn the right of the Bishop of Winchester to the Nova 
Scotia Baronetcy, lately taken up by him, by calling for the date of 
the creation upon which the claim is founded. I beg to refer this 
caviller to the Court Calendar of the present year, in which publi- 
cation of authority he will find, in the lists of Baronets of Scotland, 
the following: — 1 Pretyman Tomline, George Loddington (Leices- 
tershire), 1641.' It is true that this is the first appearance of the 
title in any similar list, or indeed in any of the Baronetages or 
Catalogues of that Order ever published; and it is also admitted, 
that neither the original patent, nor any record of it, has yet been 
discovered ; but such a defect can only excite surprise in those who 
do not advert to the turbulent state of public affairs at the period 
of this creation, and for many years afterwards. The Bishop has 
disclaimed the authority of the Heralds' College to decide upon a 
question foreign to their jurisdiction, and has preferred the more 
regular, official, and effectual course, of substantiating his claim 
before a respectable jury, in the court of the Sheriff of Haddington- 
shire, in Scotland, by whom, after a patient examination of the 
evidence adduced, his Lordship was, on the 21st of March 1823, 
served heir to the title and estates of the last Baronet, Sir Thomas 
Pretyman, who died in 1749. — I am, Sir, yours, &c. 

" R. P. T." 

May 29, 1824. 

a JOHN BULL," May 30, 1824. 

" We were not a little astonished to find the Courier lending its 
valuable columns to the circulation of insinuations which are the 
peculiar characteristics of the low and grovelling system of the ra- 
dical press. To assail a Prelate, especially one more eminently dis- 
tinguished by piety and learning, is part of their vocation ; but the 
Courier is generally actuated by very different motives and feel- 
ings, and it is therefore that we thus express our surprise at its 
having become a party to the circulation, if not of an absolute 
falsehood, at least of a fact most falsely and injuriously stated. 



xxix 

" We are now alluding to an anonymous letter which appeared 
in the Courier, professing to be written by a Nova Scotia Baronet, 
charging the Bishop of Winchester with wrongfully assuming the 
rank and decoration of that order. 

" That the Bishop of Winchester should have taken up a title 
without a just claim and proper authority for its assumption, we at 
first sight considered impossible, and we have since received several 
communications, which convince us that our inference was just. 

" It is so far true, as the anonymous correspondent of the Courier 
states (voluntarily and greedily adopted the next day by the libel- 
ling leveller in the Times), that the claim of his Lordship to an old 
Nova Scotia Baronetcy is neither admitted nor recorded in the 
English Heralds' Office: and for the best of all possible reasons; 
because that office has just as much to do with the matter as the 
Worshipful Companies of Cordiners, Merchant-Tailors, or Frame- 
Work Knitters — but, in the proper office, that is to say — the 
Heralds' Office of Scotland, not only was the right of the Bishop 
of Winchester ascertained and decided by the unanimous verdict 
of a Jury, with the Chancellor Lord Maitland at its head, but re- 
gularly, duly, and officially registered under the hand and seal of 
Lord Kinnoull, whose office (dapper and insignificant as he looks) 
is, under the title of Lord Lyon King at Arms, precisely equi- 
valent to that of the English Earl Marshal. So much for the 
perversion of a plain fact, which could not have arisen either from 
ignorance or over-zeal, and therefore is attributable either to ma- 
lignity or some interested motive not very difficult to be guessed at. 

We happen to know that no Nova Scotia Baronet seconded the 
newspaper claim — we happen to know that the letter was inserted 
by one who felt, that if old honours were admitted without certain 
fees of office being paid, nearer home the market might be injured. 
We shall spare the writer for the present, and leave him to make 
what he can legitimately, provided that the paid and hired recorders 
of Aristocratic Distinctions do not forget themselves and their 
trade so far, as for a selfish purpose, and with a mercenary feeling, 
to join the ranks of levelling Radicals.' 1 '' 

"BARONETS OF KOJA SCOTIA. 
" To the Editor of the ' Courier: 

{June 8, 1824.] 

" Sir, — A simple question of precedency has brought into the 
arena two champions for the Baronetcy lately £ taken up ' by the 
Bishop of Winchester; the one introduced by your paper of Satur- 
day the 29th ult., the other by John Bull, a few hours afterwards ; 
both, if I may judge by the angry tone of their defiance, having a 
more than ordinary interest in the issue. The Court Kalendar, 
however, brandished by the one, and the mal apropos charge of 
radicalism by the other of these heroes, are weapons not very appal- 
ling to their opponents, who happen to present a most formidable 
front, as they consist of all the Nova Scotia Baronets created sub- 



XXX 



sequently to 1641, the whole body of Baronets of Great Britain 
created since the Union with Scotland, and the Baronets of the 
United Kingdom. These must all yield place and precedence to 
the Bishop of Winchester and his posterity, if the claim of the 
learned prelate should be acted upon. 

" The case rests upon a point of fact, not of inference. All 
Baronets are created by the following process: — The King issues a 
warrant under his signet, directing a bill to pass the Privy Seal ; 
and a writ of Privy Seal thereupon authorises the grant under the 
Great Seal. Of these three instruments a record is preserved in 
the Public Archives of the Kingdom, and the records of this de- 
scription, as well in England as in Scotland, are perfect for the 
period to which this presumed creation refers. Now, the Bishop 
of Winchester asserts that an individual of the name of Pretyman 
was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1641 ; but he cannot pro- 
duce the original Patent of such creation ; and there is no trace 
amongst the public records either of the grant itself or of the pre- 
paratory instruments; the necessary conclusion, therefore, is, that 
no such grant ever passed. 

" I am informed, upon inquiry at the Heralds' College, that Sir 
John Pretyman of Loddington, in Leicestershire, Knight, soon after 
the restoration, described himself ' Knight and Baronet,' and was 
therefore so called by others. He died in 1676, and Sir George 
Pretyman, his son (who had been Knighted in his lifetime), con- 
tinued the style of ' Knight and Baronet;'' and having, as is stated 
by the Bishop himself in his case, with reference to Dean Swift's 
Journal to Stella, fallen into great poverty, went begging from 
house to house in the reign of Queen Anne. This Sir George had 
two sons, George and Shirley; by what became of them is not 
known. It appears that William Pretyman, a younger brother of 
Sir George, afterwards assumed the title of Baronet, and was buried 
by that description at Greenwich in 1719; and it was lastly used 
by Thomas Pretyman (son of Thomas, the youngest brother of Sir 
George), who died an inhabitant of Morden College, Blackheath, 
in the year 1749. From that period, the doubtful title was no 
longer used. 

" I also learn, that about five years since, the Bishop of Win- 
chester exhibited a pedigree at the Heralds' College, purporting to 
show that he was a lineal descendant of the body of the said Sir 
John Pretyman, and, as such, entitled to the honour in question. 
This pedigree, upon an examination of the evidence upon which it 
was constructed, was rejected by the College for want of the re- 
quisite proof; and it was, moreover, discovered, in the course of the 
laborious investigation then had, that Sir John Pretyman was not 
only not created a Baronet in 1641, but that he had been described, 
in a series of deeds enrolled in Chancery, before and during the 
Commonwealth, and down to a few months before the restoration, 
by the appellation of ' Esquire;' and that, in the month of August 
subsequent to the restoration, he was described in Letters Patent 



xxxi 

under the Great Seal, granting to him an office under the Crown, 
by the style of Sir John Pretyman, Knight. 

" The Learned Prelate, thus disappointed in establishing in the 
Heralds' College his pretensions as heir male of the body of Sir John 
Pretyman, appears to have had recourse to an assumption that the 
Baronetcy, of the grant of which no trace existed, had been limited 
to that of heir male general, or whatsoever; and, abandoning his 
former claim of descent from the alleged Baronet, sought to make 
himself the collateral heir male of the same individual. 

" Having, in this character, deduced his descent from William 
Pretyman, a worthy Suffolk yeoman, who was living in the reign 
of Henry VII., and is presumed, by a very probable hypothesis, to 
have been also the ancestor of Sir John Pretyman of Loddington, 
Knight, his Lordship proceeded to Scotland, where, upon an ex 
parte statement of his evidence in support of such collateral de- 
scent, and although not an acre of land, either in Haddingtonshire 
or elsewhere in Scotland was in question, or a drop of Scottish 
blood was flowing in his veins, he procured himself to be served 
heir to ' Sir Thomas Pretyman,' who died in 1749, by a process 
which is justly estimated by every person acquainted with the na- 
ture of such a proceeding, and has been pretty accurately described 
by the great Scotch novelist in Guy Mannering, and more recently 
in the entertaining work of the £ Life of Matthew Wald.' 

" With these facts before the public, do the partizans of the 
Bishop of Winchester act with fairness when they deny the autho- 
rity of the Heralds' College in England, to take cognizance of his 
case — an authority to which his Lordship had himself had recourse 
in the first instance, under an impression, it cannot be doubted, 
that the sanction of that body would be the best support of his 
pretensions. 

" One word as to the general question of the official cognizance 
of the Earl Marshal of England in matters of this kind. It is well 
known that, in all public ceremonials where the different degrees 
of rank belonging to the three kingdoms are marshalled, the whole 
is under the exclusive direction of that high Officer of the Crown ; 
and it is therefore especially within his province to guard the rights 
of all persons enjoying hereditary distinctions. Neither is this a 
question of party — and it ill becomes the pretended supporters of 
the * Aristocracy of the country to denounce as radicals those who 
are desirous of preserving the purity of that Aristocracy by sifting 
the pretensions to a title of honour assumed under circumstances 
similar to that in question. — I am, Sir, yours, &c. 

" Philalethes." 

Some fifteen years later, we find the following in the " Edinburgh 
Evening Courant" of May 26, 1838: — 

" The Leman Case. — On Monday week, in pursuance of a Brief 
issued from her Majesty's Chancery, directed to the Magistrates of 
Canongate, a highly respectable Jury, several of whom were of the 
legal profession, returned a verdict in favour of Sir John Leman of 



XXX11 



Northaw, Baronet (formerly of Nottingham, now residing in Edin- 
burgh), as nearest lawful heir-male to his cousin Sir Tanfield Leman, 
Baronet, who was the great-grandson of Sir William Leman, first of 
Northaw, High Sheriff and M.P. for Hertford in 1634, and for his 
distinguished merits was afterwards created a Baronet, by letters- 
patent dated March 3, 1665. Sir John is the male representative of 
his ancestor Sir John Leman, Lord Mayor of London, who flourished 
during the reign, and was a favourite of King James I. of England; 
and we are informed that Sir John Leman, Baronet, is entitled to 
immense funded and territorial properties belonging to his progeni- 
tors, which were thrown into Chancery by orders of that Court, till 
the rightful heir was legally ascertained. In the evening the claim- 
ant gave an elegant entertainment to the Judge, Jury, and a select 
number of Sir John's friends; R. W. Hamilton, Esq., agent for the 
General Steam Navigation Company, presided as chairman. The 
party spent a most harmonious evening, and they did not separate 
till an early hour." 

The above is cited, along with the case of Pretyman, to show what 
can be effected by a legal nuisance. It will be observed that both 
these families were purely English, without ever having possessed 
one acre of land in Scotland ; and that in the case of Leman, the 
dignity was that of a Baronet of England, and not of Nova Scotia. 

This legal nuisance, the source of numerous evils, is the improper 
system of what is denominated " Services" in Scotland, by means of 
which any person — no matter of what nation or whoever he may 
be — can obtain himself declared, by a jury of twelve individuals 
— the more ignorant the better — heir to any one whom he may 
choose to claim as his ancestor, however distinguished the title, or 
valuable the property depending upon such claim. The manner in 
which these mockeries of justice, or rather legalized impositions, are 
set about, is notorious. A man imagines — or the suggestion is put in 
his head by one of those unprincipled fellows called " Genealogists" 
— that he represents, in some undefined shape or other, a Baronet 
or Peer (the former is the hack cheat), whose dignity, in nine cases 
out of ten, is not dormant, but extinct, and immediately, by dint of 
extracts from old Red Books, a few loose memoranda from vague 
records, and sturdy assumptions, utterly destitute of evidence but 
advanced with the persevering impudence of an attorney, the Magi 
who are convoked — (like the banqueters in the parable, from the 
highways and lanes) — find and declare the worthy claimant to be 
the representative of a family of which he possesses not in his veins 
one drop of the blood, or with which he has the remotest connec- 
tion, or, it may be, with even the country to which it belongs. There 
is no one, perhaps, in a position to oppose ; the law has provided no 



XXX111 



check for such practices, and incalculable injury is daily done both to 
private parties and to the public at large. These evils have been 
particularly felt in matters of English dignities; and the recent case 
of Humphries, the pseudo Earl of Stirling, is a striking instance of 
how the State may be inconvenienced by such a lax and indefensible 
system, * and private parties have been in the Leman case above 
noticed. For the claimant therein served is by that deed of service 
enabled to raise money, and has proceeded to harass the tenants of 
sundry estates, under colour thereof ; and his agents, availing them- 
selves of the facilities afforded by the service, which is presumed by 
parties ignorant of the real fact to be the recognition by a proper 
tribunal, have proceeded to make and fashion his pedigree so as to 
lead to the recovery of large estates, by fraudulent and false evidence, 
thereby inflicting very serious injury on individuals and the common 
weal. As a specimen of some of the incidents connected with this 
said Leman case, the following recently appeared in the "Globe" 
of Wednesday, June 24th last, 1846 

" COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, JuxNE 23. 

" In Re Edward Godfrey Leman. 

" This case came before the Court to vacate the proceedings. 
The insolvent was sued as Sir Edward Godfrey Leman, and claimed 
the estates belonging to the " Leman " family. It was contended, in 
showing cause, that the application was not duly made, and that it 
was not a proper case for the exercise of the discretionary power 
of the Court. The insolvent was heard at Nottingham : he was an 
old man of eighty, found in some almshouses, having been a brick- 
maker, and was put forward as the heir of the Leman estates and 
the title of Baronet. Mr. Hawkins had some property in White- 
chapel, which had been in his family for a century, and the old 
man had mixed himself up in the matter so as to become liable for 
the costs; and hence his application to the Court. There were 
parties moving in the case, and their object was to get the proceed- 
ings vacated with the view of further litigation. No affidavit was 
made by the old man, but by an affidavit on the other side it ap- 
peared that the present application was made without his request. 
Therefore it was insisted that the application should be refused. 

* Among the assumptions of this man Humphries was a right, in virtue of 
the original grant to Sir William Alexander, whose representative he pre- 
tended to be, to confer the title of Baronet of Nova Scotia on whomsoever he 
pleased. Accordingly, being highly satisfied with the services and fictions of 
of Banks the " Genealogist" he dubbed him Baronet, and this man Banks 
ridiculously adopts it to the present day. In a very excellent local history, 
recently published ( Walbran's History and Antiquities of Gainford), the author 
expresses his gratitude for assistance received in framing the Fotherby pedi- 
gree from " the kindness of Sir T. C. Banks, Ban."! 

e 



XXXIV 



Mr. Cooke, in support of the rule, said, if Mr. Hawkins had been 
paid, as was admitted, the application should be granted. 

The Court thought the rule was answered. 

Mr. Cooke offered to show that the application was made without 
his concurrence. 

The Court said the rule might be enlarged, and on the next 
occasion, if it was not satisfactorily shown that it was made with 
his sanction, it would be refused, as it would not then appear to be 
' duly ' made as required by the Act." 

To remedy this crying abuse, to the disgrace of our legal autho- 
rities, no steps have ever been taken, albeit repeated remonstrances 
have been made by professional as well as private individuals. 
Nay, we know that the Chapter of the Heralds' College of England 
memorialized the present Lord Advocate, when he formerly held 
office, in reference specially to the very case of Leman, which 
Memorial was, with singularly unaccountable discourtesy, neither 
acknowledged nor acted upon. And when the ex Lord Advocate 
last year introduced " A Bill to alter and amend the Law and Prac- 
tice in Scotland as to the Service of Heirs," which, however, went 
no farther, — he strangely omitted in any way to remove the great 
bane of the existing system. For although the 11th and 12th 
sections of the Bill* admit of competition, yet the frauds take 
place because there is no person interested in opposing, and the 
evidence is all ex parte. This really demands early attention on 
the part of the Legislature; and the drawing up of any Bill tending 
to correct the present system ought to be entrusted to some 
English lawyer, and not to any member of the Scottish Bar, whose 
circumscribed ideas and prejudice in favour of obsolete practice 

* " § XI. And be it enacted, That it shall and may be lawful to any person 
conceiving that he has a right to be served preferable to that of the person 
petitioning the Sheriff as aforesaid, also to present a petition to the Sheriff 
in manner and to the effect aforesaid, and which shall be intimated in man- 
ner above directed ; and it shall and may be lawful to the Sheriff, if he shall 
see cause, to confirm the said petition, and thereafter to proceed to take evi- 
dence in manner hereinbefore directed ; allowing to each of the parties, not 
only a proof in chief with reference to his own claim, but a conjunct probation 
with reference to the claim of any other party; and the Sheriff shall, after 
receiving the said evidence, pronounce judgment on the said petition, serving, 
and refusing to serve, the petitioners respectively, as may be just ; and the 
extract of every such judgment, given out to the petitioner thereby served, 
shall specially and articulately set forth the particulars hereinbefore required, 
and be transmitted to Chancery, and be duly recorded, in manner and to the 
effect before provided. 

" XII. And be it enacted, That no person shall be entitled to appear and 
oppose a service proceeding before the Sheriff in terms of this Act, who could 
not competently appear and oppose the service proceeding under the laws of 
inquest, according to the law and practice heretofore existing; and all objec- 
tions shall be presented in writing, and shall forthwith be disposed of in a 
summary manner by the Sheriff." 



XXXV 



may tend to make matters rather worse, if possible, than they are 
at present. 

Among those families who assume to themselves Baronetcies 
without any right thereto are — 

The Daltells of Binns. — Since the demise of the late so-called 
Sir James Dalyell, his brother Sir John Graham Dalyell, Knight, 
who from his dabbling in legal and antiquarian lore cannot be igno- 
rant how the matter stands, has continued to usurp the title. The 
fact is, the members of this family are not Dalyells, but Menteiths; 
as, in 1688, James Menteith of Auldcathy married the elder of the 
two daughters of Sir Thomas Dalyell, first Baronet of Binns. This 
Baronetcy expired in the person of Sir Thomas, second Baronet, 
who died unmarried, and the estate of Binns then passed by mar- 
riage of the elder co-heiress aforesaid. It is pretended that the 
patent of creation confers the dignity on the grantee and his heirs 
of entail succeeding to the estate of Binns ; but no such patent can 
be shown, and such a destination of the honour is altogether in- 
consistent with the patents of other Nova Scotia Baronets, which 
invariably run in favour of heirs-male. 

In like manner the Richardsons of Pencaitland and Pitfour. 
The present so-styled Sir John proved his propinquity to a person 
who had assumed the title without lawful right thereto, and in virtue 
of his service to the pseudo Baronet now makes use of the title.* 

Thus also the Dunbars of Dtjrn. — The person calling himself 
the Rev. Sir William Dunbar, — and who has recently acquired a 
somewhat unenviable name from having been excommunicated by 
his Bishop for contumacy, — has no right whatever to the title, 
which expired in the person of the late Sir James Dunbar, who 
died in 1813. 

We should likewise desire to know what right can be shown for 
the assumption of the Baronetcy of Nicolson and Lasswade. Can 

* " On Monday last, the 9th January, before the Sheriff of Perth, and a 
highly respectable Jury, John Richardson, Esq. of Pitfour, was served nearest 
and lawful heir-male of Sir John Charles Richardson, Bart., Commander in 
the Royal Navy, who died at London some time ago, without issue. By this 
service Mr. Richardson, now Sir John, has become a Baronet of Nova Scotia 
under a patent granted by King Charles the First in 1630. We understand 
that the estate of Smeaton, in Mid Lothian, which formerly belonged to the 
ancient family of Richardson, was sold many years ago, and is now in the 
possession of the Duke of Buccleuch. After the service, a number of the 
friends of Sir John Richardson, who is now in England, partook of a sump- 
tuous dinner at the George Inn, and spent the evening with much hilarity ; 
and on the following day, the tenants on the estate of Pitfour had a similar 
convivial meeting, to express their congratulations to their landlord on his 
accession to his present title." — (Courant, January 12, 1837.) 



XXXVI 



any better than a wretched " service " to a lineage as exhibited by 
the unfailing Mr. Burke, support those claims'? But the pedigree 
may satisfy the phocce of Zetland, where the " eighth and present 
Baronet " is said to exist. We might, if we had space, disqualify at 
the very least one third of these Nova Scotia puppets. 



Bastardies are exceedingly numerous in Scottish families. A 
curious illustration of the manner in which the compilers of Peerages 
and Baronetages contrive to pass over such matters, appears in re- 
ference to the Sinclairs of Ulbster, recently exposed in the columns 
of the Gentleman's Magazine: — 

" Amongst the genealogical collections formerly belonging to 
Douglas the Peerage writer, and subsequently acquired by George 
Chalmers the author of Caledonia, occurs the following letter, which, 
as correcting a mistake recent writers on genealogy have fallen into, 
may be worthy of preservation in the pages of the Gentleman's 
Magazine : — 

"'21 January 1758. Please inform Mr. Douglas, that George, 
who he calls the second son to the Earl of Caithness, was his third 
son. John, Master of Caithness, was the eldest, the second was 
William, and the third was George. William died without lawful 
children. Ulbster's family is descended of a bastard of William's,* 
and, upon William's death, George succeeded to the estate of Mey. 
The contracts of marriage of the family of Mey are mostly in his 
charter chest, where it 's not easie to find them, and a good many 
of them in processes at Edinburgh, which Mr Budge can direct. 
I think you may venture to assure Mr. Douglas that all the mar- 
riages insert in the note I sent are just, and no bastards insert in 
it : for they had not a bastard that was of fortune but Ulbster, and 
he is the bastard of William that died without any legitimate heirs, 
for, if he had had any legitimate children, they would have suc- 
ceeded to Mey before George the third son.' 

" In the old edition of Douglas, William is altogether omitted, 
but in the edition published by John Philip Wood, Esquire, 2 vols, 
folio, he is restored to his proper place as second son, and George, 
the ancestor of the present Earl, is entered correctly as the third. 

" Sinclair of Barroch or Barrach, the writer of the letter, was 
descended from the third son of George Sinclair of Mey, and this 
branch, in the event of the failure of the present one, would succeed 
to the Peerage of Caithness. 

" It may be proper to add, that this account of the origin of the 
family of Ulbster is corroborated by Father Hay in his curious 

« * William had two natural sons, who were legitimated in the usual way 
by letter of legitimation from the king. This gave them certain privileges, 
but they still remained incapable of assuming the right competent to lawful 
children." 



XXXV11 



Memoirs of the Saint Clairs of Roslin, a few copies of which were 
for the first time printed from the original MS. in 1835, (Edin- 
burgh, Thomas G. Stevenson, ito.) where the name of the mother 
will be found. She was a Margaret Mowat, a daughter of Mowat 
of Bochully. But for the bastardy, the Sinclairs of U lbster would 
have succeeded to the Caithness Earldom." — Gent. Mag. vol. xx. 
p. 260. 

" T 1 House, March 25. 

" In a book entituled : Memoirs of the Life and Works of the 
Right Honourable Sir John Sinclair, Bart.,' written by his son, the 
Rev. John Sinclair, M. A., and published at Edinburgh in 2 vols, 
crown 8vo. 1837, there is a preliminary account of the ancestry of 
the Baronet, in which an indirect attempt is made to engraft him 
on the legitimate stock of that branch of the Sinclairs in which the 
ancient Earldom of Caithness still exists. The sister of the learned 
writer is well known as the authoress of several amusing though 
inaccurate productions; and this lady, without the slightest hesi- 
tation or demur, is incessantly trespassing on the patience of her 
readers with notices of her illustrious ancestors the Earls of Caith- 
ness. Both brother and sister, however, seem to be ignorant of 
the fact that their connection with the Caithness family is one not 
recognised in law, seeing that the founder of their family was ille- 
gitimate. This ignorance is the more remarkable, as the reverend 
gentleman and the lady have a brother who follows the calling or 
occupation of a genealogist, and who has given the world a toler- 
able estimate of his talents in that line in the publication of a 
treatise on the meaning of the words ' heirs-male' in the patents 
of Scottish peers. 

" Now this gentleman, whose unceasing inquisitiveness in all 
matters of pedigree astonishes and delights all those who have the 
honour of his acquaintance, should have put his pen through the 
following passage, which occurs at page 3 of his brother John's 
Memoirs of his Father: — 

" 'George, fifth Earl of Caithness, conveyed, in 1596 and 1603, 
the lands of Ulbster to Patrick Sinclair, whom in both grants he 
designates his cousin. Dying without issue, Patrick was succeeded 
by his brother John, styled Master (Magister), a title of honour 
peculiar in those times to professional scholars. To this learned 
gentleman the same Earl renews the former grants, for the particu- 
lar love and favour that he bears towards his cousin Master John 
Sinclair of Ulbster. This charter was confirmed by the Crown in 
1616.' 

" That the eldest son of a Scottish Baron was termed, and is 
termed, Master, is unquestionably true, but that the word Magister, 
or, in ancient Scottish parlance, 1 Maister, was a title of honour in 
the circumstance here set forth, is altogether preposterous, as, so 
far from being esteemed an honourable distinction, it was uniformly 
applied to professional persons. Thus notaries-public, a very sub- 
ordinate class, were so termed; so were teachers or dominies; and 



xxxviii 



probably the highest grade to whom it was assigned were preachers : 
— thus the well-known Robert Bruce was called ' Maister;' so was 
John Knox, &c. The probability is that this John was either a 
notary-public or a dominie. The expression consanguineus or 
cousin proves nothing, as it was not unusual for the great feudal 
lords of that period to style their vassals or retainers so, the more 
especially where they happened to be illegitimately connected with 
them. 

" At a subsequent place the Rev. John, in treating of the descen- 
dants of the learned John, records amongst the most distinguished 
of the family ' John Sinclair of Brims, who served during the thirty 
years' war in the Scottish army, and Sir George Sinclair of Clyth,' 
&c. It is therefore a fact that Sinclair of Brims was a descendant 
of the learned Patrick; and, as the former was an ancestor of the 
late Sir John, it will admit of no controversy that Maister John 
Sinclair was the common ancestor. 

" The question therefore comes to be, Who was Maister John 1 
Now in the Great Seal Record, preserved in the General Register 
House in Edinburgh, Lib. 45, No. 18, there occurs a legitimation 
dated the 20th June 1607 — 'Patricio et Magistro Joanni Sinclair 
filiis naturalibus quondam Willielmi Sinclair de Mey.'' William 
Sinclair of Mey was succeeded in his estate by his younger brother 
George, the ancestor of the present Earls of Caithness ; it is there- 
fore plain that, had not Maister John been a bastard, he would 
have inherited the estate of Mey, and his descendant, Sir John 
Sinclair, would have been Earl of Caithness. 

" The letters of legitimation are decisive on the question; their 
effect, as all Scotch lawyers know, was to enable a bastard to make 
a settlement of his estate, and the object of the royal licence re- 
ferred to was to enable Maister John to succeed to the lands of 
Ulbster. The application, therefore, for such authority was con- 
clusive as to the illegitimacy of those who thought proper to 
make it. 

" To add further authority seems almost unnecessary; but for at 
least 150 years afterwards the Ulbster family bore the distinctive 
mark of bastardy upon their arms. These marks are (at least in 
Scotland) either the baton sinister or the gobonated border; — thus 
Nesbit remarks in his Heraldry (1727) — 'Bastards are distin- 
guished either by a border gobonated, or by a sinister bar.' Again 
he says — ' This border has not only been used by the issue of bas- 
tards, but even by bastards themselves, so that the border gobonated 
is become more suspicious of being a sign of illegitimation than 
any other figure in heraldry except the baton sinister.' — p. 13, vol. ii. 
Thus the Duke of Beaufort wears a gobonated border, probably in 
consequence of the double illegitimacy in his family, whereas some 
at least of the ennobled descendants of Charles II. bear only the 
baton sinister. 

" Accordingly Nesbit thus describes the arms of the Brims 
family — 'John Sinclair of Brimmes, a son of* a second marriage of 
Mr. John Sinclair of Ulbster, descended of the family of May, come 



XXXIX 



of the House of Caithness; his arms are ' surrounded by a border 
gobonated.' Again, Patrick Sinclair of Ulbster has his arms within 
a 1 bordure gobonated.' 

" When this distinctive mark of illegitimacy was removed does 
not appear, yet it could not have been much before the time of the 
late Sir John; indeed the circumstance was well known among the 
gentry of the county of Caithness, for during one of the political 
contests for that county, when party ran high, the worthy Baronet 
was looked upon as a kind of novus homo, and one aristocrat of 
high family, although holding the same politics, refused to vote for 
the great agriculturist, asserting that ' his bonnet was toom' (i.e. 
empty, or not tied behind), meaning thereby, according to the 
phrase in that part of the world, that he came of illegitimate stock. 

" I observe in a former number * a communication relative to 
the Caithness pedigree, in which the error as to the legitimacy of 
the Ulbster family is pointed out. Probably your correspondent 
had not seen the passage from the Memoirs of Sir John, as he 
would undoubtedly in that event have been more precise in his 
proofs. — Yours, &c. " Legitimus." — Gent. Mag. vol. xxi. p. 591. 



It is amusing to observe how professing Genealogists contrive to 
slur over the plebeian origin of some families, and fill their veins 
with blood of kings whose very existence history scarce can indicate. 
Of these thaumaturgic operations of pedigree-spinners a droll in- 
stance may be given in that of the Murray-Macgregors : — Burke, 
after informing us that " the family (or clan) of Macgregor deduces 
its lineage from Achaius, the celebrated King of Scotland, who com- 
menced his reign in 787," rapidly overtakes the great-grandfather 
of the present Sir John-Atholl-Bannatyne-Macgregor-Murray, whom 
he introduces as " Evan Murray, Esq., who served as a military 
officer with great distinction in Germany" — (Debrett, " as a Major 
in his brother Kobert's regiment!") Who could think that this 
illustrious military hero could resolve into simple Ewan Murray, 
Vintner at west end of Loch Earn, aged thirty-four in 1752, when 
he was examined as a witness in the trial of James Stewart for the 
murder of Campbell of Glenure ! Mr. C. K. Sharpe informs us 
that old Mrs. Campbell of Monzie, a relative of his own, well remem- 
bered the old publican, in whose wretched hostelry (a small alehouse 
at Lochearnhead), she had often been. She never heard any thing 
of the great M'Gregor descent, which was probably an after-thought, 
upon the son's acquiring wealth in the East Indies. 

In reference to this particular clan of bare-bottomed Celts, the 

* " September 1843, p. 290." 



xl 



late Dr. Gleig, one of the Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Com- 
munion, contributed the following letter to the columns of the 
Monthly Magazine. But the authorship having been discovered, 
the reverend gentleman was so alarmed for the vengeance of the 
race of Gregor, that he penned the humble apology which imme- 
diately succeeds it: — 

" To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 

" Sir, — In the present eventful era, which has witnessed the 
downfall of so many ancient and illustrious families, I am surprised 
to see so little of the public attention drawn to the royal family of 
Mac Gregor. Let not your English readers smile at this epithet ; 
for it is an epithet unquestionably just, 

" In that most authentic, valuable, and judicious work, entitled, 
The Baronage of Scotland, we have a history of the family, written, 
it has been said, by him who now claims to be the chief; and surely 
the testimony of such a writer must carry conviction to the most 
sceptical mind. Indeed, the narrative is drawn up with a modesty 
which flashes conviction in the reader's face. ' Though the royal 
descent of this most ancient clan might be traced from the chroni- 
cles of the Scottish kings to the remotest antiquity, we shall here,' 
says the illustrious author, ' carry it no farther back than the 
immediate undoubted progenitor, Prince Gregor, third son of king 
Alpin, son of the celebrated Achaius king of Scotland, who began 
to reign Anno 787. 

" To me, who know so well the number and the authenticity of 
the Scottish records prior to that period, the self-denial of him who 
did not make use of them to carry back his pedigree to Japhet the 
son of Noah, supplies the place of 10,000 proofs of the truth of the 
descent which he has traced. Indeed I am now thoroughly con- 
vinced, with a member of the clan who was both a poet and an 
antiquarian, that there are but four houses of high antiquity in 
Europe ; the house of Austria, the house of Bourbon, the house of 
Stewart, and the house of Mac Gregor ; and of these it is a question 
undecided, whether the house of Stewart be any thing more than a 
branch of that of Mac Gregor. 

" Of these four illustrious families, the fate has been very remark- 
able. The chief of the house of Stewart is now a catholic priest ; 
the male line of the house of Austria failed in 1740, by the death 
of the emperor Charles VI. ; and the head of the house of Bourbon 
has for six years been a wandering exile ; but the history of the 
house of Mac Gregor is still more extraordinary that of any of the 
other three. 

" About the beginning of the last century, after having for many 
years before committed what their enemies called ' vast outrages and 
depredations,' the Mac Gregors, under the conduct of their chief, 
massacred the Colquhouns, a neighbouring clan, with such circum- 
stances of treacherous atrocity, that the name of Mac Gregor was 
abolished by act of parliament, and the whole clan declared outlaws. 



xli 



It will naturally be thought that such a law could not have been 
passed against a family so illustrious, but upon the most complete 
evidence ; and it must be confessed that the public opinion on this 
occasion acquiesced in the wisdom and justice of the legislature. 
But, notwithstanding these presumptions, the historian of the clan, 
whom we have already quoted in terms so respectful, has proved, 
by evidence the most incontrovertible, that his family was innocent, 
and the Scotch parliament a pack of knaves. ' Mr. Alexander 
Ross/ says he, 1 professor in the university of Aberdeen, makes it 
plainly appear, in a Latin history of the family of Sutherland, how 
grossly this unfortunate clan have been misrepresented and abused 
and surely no man of common sense will pretend that even an act 
of parliament, corroborated by public opinion and the testimony of 
all our historians, can invalidate the credit of a professor in the 
University of Aberdeen ! It is true, that Charles II. having repealed 
the law which abolished the name of Mac Gregor, King William 
judged it necessary to revive it, on account of some new depredations 
committed by the clan under the conduct of Robert Roy: but what 
is King William when compared with Professor Ross ? 

" The effects of these unjust laws were various. The Clan was 
broken and dispersed. Some of them took one name, and some 
another; and they emigrated in multitudes to Germany, France, 
Italy, and Ireland. As the learned historian already mentioned has 
not traced the Irish, Italian, or German branches of his family, it 
is incumbent upon me to prove that there are any such ; and, for- 
tunately, the proof is concise and conclusive. 

" That all-accomplished hero, who is recorded in the Baronage as 
having performed prodigies of valour when not yet fifteen, has just 
now raised a regiment of fencible infantry, to be employed by his 
king against the common enemies of Europe. In that regiment 
are some Germans, some Italians, and many Irish ; and as one of the 
officers was lately cow-keeper to the minister of Balquhidder, about 
sixty or seventy miles west from this — another a tailor, in the village 
of Callander, where his father still follows the same business, and 
keeps a dram-shop — and a third & ganger, — it is hardly conceivable 
that these foreigners, especially the Germans, would obey such 
officers, were they not convinced that they have all sprung from the 
same royal stem. It may, indeed, appear surprising to some of 
your readers, that the Chiefs of so illustrious a family should have 
selected such men for commands in their regiment : but let it be 
remembered, that the blood of Prince Gregor circulating in his 
veins is more than sufficient to ennoble the meanest tailor or 
herdsman on earth. There was policy, too, in making officers of 
cciv-Tceepers, gaugers, and tailors. The French armies have been 
invincible under their low-born generals; and what must be the 
prowess of the Royal Clan-Alpines (for that is the name of the 
regiment), when they unite in their officers the advantages both of 
low and high birth ! 

" The exploits of this wonderful regiment, I have no doubt, will 
evince the wisdom of that legislature which lately restored the name 

/ 



xlii 



of Mac Gregor; and I do not despair of living to see its heroic 
commander sitting in the House of Peers by the style and title 
of Duke of Glenfalloch. By inserting this supplement to the 
history of the illustrious house in your next number, you will much 
oblige all the Mac Gregors, as well as an ally of the family, who is 
your constant reader and admirer, Gregor Mac Nab. 

119 South Bridge Street, Edinburgh, 
May the 22d, 1799. 

RETRACTATION AND APOLOGY CONCERNING THE MAC GREGORS. 

" The author of the letter which was published on the 1st of 
August last in the London Monthly Magazine, with the fictitious 
signature of Gregor Mac Nab, acknowledges the said letter to be 
a gross, unprovoked, and unmerited libel ; that it contains the most 
injurious misrepresentations of the Koyal Clan- Alpine regiment, re- 
viving old calumnies, and deducing from these calumnies inferences 
injurious to the family and the whole Clan of Mac Gregor, whose 
conduct and real characters are, in all respects, as unexceptionable 
as the conduct and character of any other Clan or class of his Ma- 
jesty's subjects whatsoever. 

" On real consideration, I am sensible that it was unbecoming in 
me to aim any sarcasm at that legislature which restored the Mac 
Gregors to their franchises, seeing it must in candour be admitted 
that, in the indiscriminate prescription of that tribe, the rights and 
liberties of the subjects were manifestly violated; that the long 
continuance of their privation of law was an intolerable grievance ; 
and consequently, that the legislature which abolished the prescrip- 
tion acted a virtuous part, in the discharge of a duty, which it 
owed not only to the injured Mac Gregors, but also to the people 
at large, whose constitutional freedom, and most valuable rights and 
privileges, had through them been infringed. 

" Deeply penetrated with compunction for having been hurried on 
by sudden but unmerited resentment against a single individual, to 
prostitute his pen and misapply his talents to the unworthy purposes 
of defaming the dead, and endeavouring to rekindle extinguished 
and groundless prejudices against the innocent living, he sees the 
complicated mischief of such conduct in colours as strong as those 
in which it can be viewed by the injured parties themselves; and 
he laments that the apology which he is capable of making is in- 
sufficient to atone for offences, which even the regret and contrition 
that, to the last hour of his life, he must have, though they may, 
perhaps, extenuate them in the breasts of humanity, never can 
thoroughly wash away. 

" Desiring forgiveness of every individual of the Clan-Alpine 
Eegiment and of the name of Mac Gregor, he has thrown himself 
entirely upon the mercy and placability of the parties chiefly 
injured ; and he considers himself as deeply indebted to them for 
the magnanimity and humanity with which they have accepted of, 
and declared themselves satisfied with, these sincere concessions of 
the Offender." 



xliii 



Enough has for the present, perhaps, been said on the Baronets 
and mighty men of the North, for the length of our quotations has 
extended these introductory remarks beyond due bounds. We 
shall probably ere long resume the subject in a different shape. 
In the meanwhile, since the annexed Prospectus was printed off, 
another has been placed in our hands, differing from the former in 
so far as it holds out the following inducements: — 

" prince edward's island settlements and fisheries. 

" The Companies already formed for this object are producing 
the most beneficial results, both to the shareholder and the emi- 
grants; still there is ample room for the exertions of others to aid 
in the introduction of British capital and British industry to the 
vast field open for their application. 

" Among the various objects presented by these extensive and 
prosperous Colonies for the advantageous investment of capital, and 
the profitable employment of industry, none hold out more certain 
or speedy prospects of success, or of a better retnrn for the money 
and labour expended on them, than the Fisheries in the Gulph of 
St. Lawrence. This most important source of national wealth, which 
the French considered more valuable than the gold mines of Peru, 
has hitherto been treated with a neglect no less astonishing than 
well known, and it has led to the total relinquishment of its advan- 
tages to the citizens of the United States, and to the French, both 
of whom have not failed eagerly to profit by it. It is no uncommon 
occurrence for seventy sail of American fishing craft to be seen at 
once in any of the numerous bays on the British coasts ; and thus 
the trade which would afford a nursery for a hardy and skilful race 
of sailors for the British crown, is converted into one of the main 
supports of a powerful and industrious rival. 

" The shores of almost every part of our possessions surrounding 
the Gulph of St. Lawrence literally swarm with fish of various 
species, which, in succession, crowd the bays and creeks of the 
coast. Early in the spring, shoals of herring visit these localities, 
and are succeeded by the gaspereaux and the mackarel. The cod, 
pursuing the herring, often fill the harbours, and are to be met 
with in the greatest abundance off the coasts during the whole of 
the summer. The Americans are prohibited by treaty from fishing 
within three miles of the land; but they carry away with them 
annually many thousand barrels of each description, almost from 
our own bays and within view of our shores, and sell them in British 
markets. For every variety there is an abundant demand : mac- 
karel during the last season brought 50s. the barrel, herring from 
20s. to 25s. per barrel, and cod 15s. per quintal in the Halifax 
market. Nor is this the only place which would take off the pro- 
duce of the fishery : the British West Indies, and even the American 
ports, are open to an incalculable extent ; while Spain, Portugal, and 



xliv 



Italy, to say nothing of the home trade, afford a never failing and 
ample demand. 

" The following extract from a work of undoubted authority, 
' British America] by John Macgregor, Esq., now Assistant Secre- 
tary of the Board of Trade, may convey some idea of the extent to 
which our acute and money-making republican neighbours carry on 
this trade. — ' The Americans of the United States had, in the year 
1829, about 500 vessels, and 15,000 men, employed on the coast 
of Labrador, and their catch amounted to 1,100,000 quintals of fish, 
and about 3,000 tons of oil — value altogether, about £610,000.' 
And in another part of the same work, under the head ' Newfound- 
land,' the author states, that ' in these fisheries the Americans 
have annually engaged from 1,500 to 2,000 schooners of 90 to 130 
tons, employing about 20,000 seamen. The exports of cod-fish 
from the United States, wholly caught in the British- American 
seas, average nearly 500,000 quintals; and the home consumption 
of the Americans is equal to 1,850,000 quintals. Of the whole 
quantity, about 1,300,000 quintals are the produce of the British 
seas; the remainder is caught on their own shores. About 3,200 
tons of oil are produced from the livers of the cod, and about 200 
from pelts of seals, caught on the coast of British America.' There 
needs no more proof of the profits to be derived from this branch 
of industry — nor indeed can it be otherwise; the crews of the 
fishing vessels are all paid by shares of the produce, and the only 
outlay, after the purchase and outfit of the vessels, consists in the 
salt and barrels. 

" Prince Edward's Island, from its position, and from the excel- 
lent harbours it possesses, offers the most desirable station for an 
extensive and profitable Fishery. The northern coast is the most 
frequented by herrings and gaspereaux, while the shallops and 
fishing boats find no difficulty in following the fish to the Magdalen 
Islands and the Labrador coast. The masters and crews having all 
a common interest with the OAvners, a spirit of enterprise and exer- 
tion is roused, which cannot fail to ensure success. It will be the 
part of the Association to supply the boats, nets, and the means of 
salting and drying the fish, and to receive for them a given propor- 
tion of the quantity caught, while they will provide a market for 
the whole. 

" The failure of the herring fishery on the Western Coast of 
Scotland, and the very redundant population that has for several 
years existed in many of its districts, render some measure for the 
permanent relief of the poor inhabitants imperative ; but if it be 
attempted to convert these hardy mariners into ploughmen or 
farmers' labourers, the result would probably be, as in one or two 
instances it has turned out, a complete failure, while to no other 
quarter can we so confidently look for a hardy and determined set 
of men, ready and willing to brave the seas and gulfs of these 
American coasts, and to pursue in another hemisphere their favour- 
ite and accustomed occupation, when circumstances have rendered 
it no longer available in their native land. Of their fitness for this 



xlv 



employment no doubt can exist; and it must be admitted that the 
patience with which, for the last three winters, they have borne 
sufferings little short of famine and starvation, entitle them to the 
utmost consideration. On these grounds The British-American 
Association expect that all interested in the wellbeing of the poor, 
but more especially the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Scotland, will 
aid in this important branch of their undertaking; and they trust 
that the supervision which will be exercised over their operations 
by a large body of the ancient Scottish Nobility, who are closely 
connected with the North American provinces, will be a powerful 
guarantee that the interests, both of the emigrant and shareholder, 
will be carefully protected. 

The first and principal fishing station will be established at or 
near Holland Bay, in Prince Edward's Island; a locality which 
affords every advantage requisite for such an undertaking, — from 
the abundance of fish, the ready access to the other spots they fre- 
quent, and the excellent harbourage, even for vessels drawing four- 
teen or fifteen feet of water. Preparations for the reception of the 
fishermen will be made by the previous dispatch of a sufficient 
number of agricultural labourers, and the necessary artificers, to 
whom most advantageous terms will be offered, and thus the agri- 
cultural capabilities of the district selected for the first operations 
of the Association, which it possesses in an eminent degree, will be 
efficiently developed, while the application of the most just and 
sound principles of colonization to both descriptions of settlers will 
ensure an adequate return to those who may be disposed to embark 
in an enterprise so well calculated to advance alike the interests of 
the nation and of individuals." 

Alas ! if the poor of this country have no better support to trust 
to than the " herrings and gaspereaux " provided for them by the 
British- American Association, their plight is a sad one ! It would 
be no unfit distribution of justice, were the means and estates of 
those who lent the prestige of their names to this abominable de- 
lusion, to be burdened with the amplest provision for all the " kith 
and kin " of the unfortunate victims who were led astray by this 
titled glamourie. 

It was at first intended merely to reprint the trial, with the pro- 
spectus elucidatory thereof ; but as every thing connected with this 
" mighty swindle " is worthy of preservation as a guidance for 
others, all notices and proceedings relating to it, so far as these can 
be obtained, are prefixed. This will account for the difference in 
the pagination. 



BRITISH -AMERICAN ASSOCIATION, 



FOR EMIGRATION AND COLONIZATION. 



Capital, £1,000,000, in £20 Shares. — Deposit £5 per Share. 



PRESIDENT. 
HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ARGYLL. 



VICE-PRESIDENTS. 



The Marquess of Huntly, K.T. 
The Marquess of Downshire, K.P. 
The Marquess of Bute. 
The Marquess of Lorn. 
The Earl of Carnwath. 
The Earl of Dunmore. 
The Earl of Castlestewart. 
The Earl of Gosford, G.C.B. 



Lord Scarsdale. 
Lord Forbes. 
Lord Duffus. 
Lord Belhaven. 
Lord Elibanl^. 
Lord Kilmaine. 
Lord Macdonald. 



CONSULTING COUNCIL. 

The Premier Baronet of Scotland and Nova Scotia. 



Sir Thomas Livingstone, Bart. 
Sir James Colquhoun, Bart. 
Sir William Murray, Bart. 
Sir John Ogilvie, Bart. 
Sir Wm. Alex. Maxwell, Bart. 
Sir James Cockburn, Bart. 
Sir John Campbell, Bart. 
Sir John Murray, Bart. 
Sir Michael Bruce, Bart. 
Sir John Forbes, Bart. 
Sir Edward Crosbie, Bart. 
Sir John C. Fairlie, Bart. 
Sir Fitzroy G. Maclean, Bart. 
Sir Frederic Hamilton, Bart. 
Sir William Pilkington, Bart. 
Sir Robert Abercromby, Bart. 
Sir Robert Preston, Bart. 

The Lord Provost of Edin r - 
The Lord Provost of Glasgow. 
The Chisholm. 



Sir James H. Turin, Bart. 

Sir Neil Menzies, Bart. 

Sir William Maxwell, Bart. 

Sir John Maxwell, Bart. 

Sir Charles Bannerman, Bart. 

Sir John Pringle, Bart. 

Sir William C. Seton, Bart. 

Sir Richard Greirson, Bart. 

Sir James Broun, Bart. 

Sir James W. Mackenzie, Bart. 

Sir John Reid, Bart. 

Sir George S. Mackenzie, Bart. 

Sir Wm. Dunbar, of Durn, Bart. 

Sir Francis Mackenzie, Bart. 

Sir James Stuart, Bart. 

Sir John Gordon, Bart. 

Sir Robert Keith Dick, Bart. 

The Rev. Dr. Norman Macleod. 
Mr. Sheriff Alison. 
Neil Malcolm, Esq. 



B 



2 



COMMISSIONERS 

Sir William Ogilvie, Bart. 
Sir William Dunbar, Bart. 
Sir Kobert Barclay, Bart. 



Sir Allan Napier Macnab, 
Sir Bichard Broun. 
Thomas Rolph, Esq. 



Superintendent of Settlers in Canada. 
Sir James D. Hamilton Hay, Bart. 

STANDING COUNSEL. 

England. 

A. E. Cockburn, Esq., Q. C. — George Barrett Lennard, Esq. 

Canada. 

C. R. Ogden, Esq., Attorney-General, East Canada. 
J. H. Peters, Esq., Solicitor-General, Prince Edward's Island. 

BANKERS. 

London. Edinburgh. 

Sir William Forbes & Co. 

Glasgow. 
The Union Bank of Scotland. 



Messrs. Glyn, Hallifax, Mills, 
& Co. 

Messrs. Cockburn & Co. 



Agent for Glasgow — John Lamont, Esq., Buchanan Street. 

SECRETARY. 

W. H. Buckerfield, Esq. 



Offices — 29. New Bridge Street, Blachfria/rs, London. 



The object of the British-American Association is to pro- 
mote the Colonization of our North- American possessions, by 
a transfer of the surplus population of the United Kingdom 
upon a national scale ; and by such an infusion of Capital into 
them, as shall lead to an immediate and wide development of 
their inexhaustible resources. 

Our North American possessions present the most advan- 
tageous field for these operations, whether we consider their 
easy distance from the mother country, now abridged by the 
application of steam navigation — the fertility of their soil- — 
the salubrity of their climate, and freedom from those occa- 
sional droughts which so seriously injure the Australian Co- 
lonist — or the still more important consideration of a long 
established trade, and of the settlers being placed in a com- 
paratively civilized country, with all the benefits of British 
society and British laws. 

The operations of the Association are intended to be com- 
menced in several Seignories lying on the north bank of the 



» 



3 



St. Lawrence, about half-way between Quebec and Montreal, 
for the purchase of which agreements have been prepared. 
These tracts, comprehending nearly two hundred thousand 
acres, have been selected as being admirably adapted, from 
their geographical position, to form together the centre of the 
transactions of a great and powerful Association. 

The Board of Commissioners will also acquire, either by 
grant or purchase, such Seignories and other lands as may be 
calculated to promote the interests of the Association, and be 
necessary for the location of the Emigrants placed under its 
care and protection. 

The whole of the lands and properties progressively acquired 
will be administered by the Board of Commissioners, under 
the supervision of the Consulting Council. The improvements 
necessary to complete the Colonization of these lands will be 
effected or aided by the funds of the Association, and the lands 
will then be let or sold, and the income or profits divided pe- 
riodically among the Shareholders. 

The great distress into which a considerable portion of the 
population of Great Britain is now plunged, and particularly 
that of the western districts of Scotland, renders Emigration 
on a large scale almost imperative ; the evidence taken before 
a Committee of the House of Commons, showing, that in a 
very limited district of the Hebrides, and adjoining mainland, 
there are no less than 44,600 persons requiring immediately 
to be removed to afford any perceptible relief. Nor is the 
condition of the poor much better in the neighbourhood of 
Glasgow, Paisley, and other manufacturing towns, where the 
hand-loom weavers have long been exposed, by the depriva- 
tion of employment arising from the improvements in ma- 
chinery, to the extremity of distress. It is to these districts 
that the promoters of this Association have directed their first 
attention. They hope to alleviate the sufferings of a hardy, 
patient, and meritorious race, by removing them to a country 
where their labour will meet an abundant reward, and where, 
by that frugality and industry for which they have been al- 
ways remarkable, they cannot fail to place themselves and 
their families in comparative affluence, without breaking that 
connecting tie between the landlord and his tenantry which 



4 



has hitherto formed the characteristic of the Scottish people. 
Nor will this change of abode be less beneficial to the nation 
at large than to themselves. Placed in a situation where their 
labour will be productive, they will become useful members 
of society, instead of a mere burthen on its resources ; and 
they will, as their countrymen who have preceded them in 
the path of Emigration have done, prove, in time of need, the 
most able and zealous defenders of their country, and profit- 
able consumers of the manufactures of the Parent State. 

There is one feature in the constitution of this Association, 
as connected with Scotland, and with the interests of the 
Scottish Emigrant, too important to be passed over. The un- 
dertaking will be supported by an union with the Baronets of 
Scotland and Nova Scotia, — an Order originally created to 
further the settlement of British North America, by which 
its objects are closely interwoven with the interests of a large 
portion of the Scottish Nobility; and by the members of that 
Order assisting in its Councils, and conducting its manage- 
ment, a careful supervision is provided over all the interests, 
not only of the Shareholders, but more especially of the Emi- 
grants confined to its care; — a supervision not ceasing with 
their landing in a new country, but continuing till they shall 
be located on their settlements, and providing for their future 
happiness and advantage. 

The promoters of this national undertaking call on all in- 
terested in the well-being of the poor, but especially on the 
noblemen and gentlemen of the United Kingdom, to aid in 
this good work, the results of which are neither speculative 
nor problematical. 

It will be the especial duty of the Commissioners to pro- 
mote and receive voluntary contributions from the benevolent, 
to be applied, under the supervision of the Consulting Coun- 
cil, either in the location of poor Emigrants, on the nomina- 
tion of the donor, or in the erection of Churches, Chapels, 
Hospitals, Schools, or other charitable foundation, in further- 
ance of religious worship and of education as he may direct. 

The undertaking, combining the three great elements of 
wealth — Land, Population, and Industry sustained by Capital 
— obviously secures an ample pecuniary return ; and, as an 



5 



investment for money, presents inducements of the highest 
description. 

CONDITIONS. 

1. The Capital of the Association, One Million, divided into 
Shares of £20 each ; upon each of which a deposit of £5 per 
Share will be required at the time of subscribing ; the balance 
to be called for by instalments not exceeding £5 each, — of 
which twenty-one days' notice shall be given. 

2. The Commissioners, with the consent of the Consulting 
Council, have power to augment the Capital when required 
by the extended transactions of the Association, in which case 
the holders of Shares in the original Capital will have a pre- 
emption for the Shares in the new, before they be offered to 
the public. 

3. The Commissioners have the power to form branches for 
distinct objects, in respect of which separate Shares will beissued. 

4. The responsibility of each Shareholder limited to the 
amount of the Shares held by him, and every contract or agree- 
ment to contain a condition admitting such limitation. 

5. The President, Vice-Presidents, and members of the Con- 
sulting Council, possess a deliberative power, and have a su- 
pervision of the affairs of the Association, for the protection of 
the Shareholders and Emigrants. 

6. The Commissioners have the power to enforce the pay- 
ment of the Calls, and to declare all Shares forfeited upon 
which a Call shall be in arrear for two months. 

7. The operations of the Association to be commenced when- 
ever, in the opinion of the Commissioners, a sufficient amount 
of Capital for the purpose shall have been raised or subscribed. 

8. The Commissioners authorized, with the approbation of 
the Consulting Council, to issue Debentures, bearing interest, 
secured on all or any part of the lands of the Association, for 
sums not less than £25 each. 

9. The Commissioners empowered to appoint Sub and Local 
Committees, either to superintend any particular branch, or 
for such other purposes and with such authority as shall from 
time to time be deemed necessary. 

10. A Fund, to be raised by donations and voluntary con- 
tributions, whether to assist in removing any individual or 
particular body of Emigrants, for religious, educational, or 
other benevolent objects, shall be administered by the Commis- 
sioners, by and with the sanction of the Consulting Council. 

11. A Court of the Association will be held quarterly, or 
oftener, if required ; to be composed of the President, Vice- 
Presidents, the Consulting Council, and the Commissioners. 



6 



12. The Commissioners, subject to the supervision of the 
Consulting Council, have the conduct and management of the 
ordinary business of the Association. 

13. The Consulting Council — including the President and 
Vice-Presidents — not to exceed 200 in number, and to con- 
sist, in addition to the Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia, 
of Peers and landed proprietors of the United Kingdom inte- 
rested in Emigration ; and vacancies occurring after the first 
five years to be filled up, at Meetings of the Shareholders, by 
parties qualified as Landed Proprietors, or as the holders of 
£1,000 in the Capital Stock of the Association, or of Deben- 
tures to the same amount charged thereon. 

14. The Commissioners to be the owners of properties con- 
taining at least 10,000 acres, to be vested in the Association in 
furtherance of its objects, — the holders of at least £1000 Stock 
each in the Capital of the Association, — or have a mixed qua- 
lification of land and money. 

15. 'No person qualifying for office, by Shares in the Capital 
Stock, to disqualify by the sale of his Shares, without first 
offering them to the Association. 

16. Monthly Reports will be made by the Commissioners 
to the Consulting Council, and half-yearly Reports will like- 
wise be made for the information of the Shareholders and 
others interested in the prosperity of the undertaking. 

17. Each Shareholder to be entitled to one vote in respect 
of every five Shares held by him or her. 

18. JSTo Share to be transferred while any Call is in arrear, 
and, until one-half of the amount of each Share shall be paid, 
every transfer to be subject to the approbation of the Com- 
missioners. 

19. Articles of Agreement, for the regulation and manage- 
ment of the Association, are open to the inspection of the in- 
coming Shareholders, and a Deed of Settlement is in prepara- 
tion, which, when approved by the Commissioners and settled 
by Counsel, shall be binding upon all parties interested. 

20. The Commissioners have power to apply for a Charter, 
or for an Act of Parliament, for the incorporation of the As- 
sociation. 

21. The Commissioners have the authority to make Bye-laws 
for the better government of the Association. 

Applications for Shares and for Prospectuses to be made to 
the Secretaries, at the House of the Association, No. 29, New 
Bridge Street, Blackfriars, London, or to the Agents of the 
Establishment in their respective Districts. 



7* 



From " The Globe" of Monday, Oct 24th 1842. 

Mansion -House. — The Lord Mayor was engaged most 
part of Saturday in hearing summonses against a Mr. Duncan 
Campbell, of Adam's Court, Old Broad Street, relative to a 
proceeding in winch an Association, styled " The British 
North- American Company," is implicated. The facts are as 
follows: — Mr. Campbell is the owner of the Barbadoes, of 
240 tons burden, about to sail with emigrants to Prince 
Edward's Island, where the company is to divide 400,000 
acres of land among them. A young man who had engaged 
himself as ship-carpenter, applied on Tuesday for a summons 
against Mr. Campbell for seventeen days' wages. He had 
agreed with the then captain to sail to any part of North 
America ; but a new captain having been appointed who re- 
quired him to sign an agreement to any part of the world, he 
left the vessel, and this application was the result. In the 
course of the same day some of the intending emigrants came 
to the Justice-room with complaints that they had been in- 
duced to throw up employment by promises of pay and fitting 
out by the company, of which they now saw no prospect ; and 
these were followed by tradesmen who had supplied goods to 
the Barbadoes. 

The Lord Mayor observed, that articles to sail to any part 
of the world were unheard of, and after some further remarks 
granted the summonses. 

Mr. Campbell having appeared to answer the charges, and 
having stated that the Duke of Argyll, Sir Thomas Brown, 
and Sir James Ogilvie, Baronets, were among the Directors, 
the Lord Mayor pointed out that Sir Thomas Brown's name 
was not in the prospectus — it was printed Sir James; and, 
moreover, that the other Baronet was an infant. Asking who 
was now the captain, Mr. Campbell replied Captain Fricketts, 
who had just brought the Erin from China, which the Lord 
Mayor remarked was extraordinary, since the Erin had been 
lost in the Chinese seas ! 

Wilkinson, the officer, then said that the mate of the Bar- 
badoes had desired him to state publicly that the whole trans- 
action was a swindle. 

b* 



8* 

In reply to a question, Mr. Campbell stated that he had 
insured the vessel for £3000. 

The Lord Mayor made some very strong remarks relative 
to the names which had been put before the public as being 
Directors, after which he ordered the claim of the applicant to 
be paid. With regard to the tradesmen, they had made their 
claims a matter of debt. If those persons who had been fool- 
ish enough to agree to leave their native country upon such a 
speculation as that which had been put forth in the prospectus, 
would come on Monday and make their charges, he should 
know how to deal with their applications. He had no doubt 
the expose would at least save them from going to a place 
where, on their arrival, they would be frozen to death. 

(Thursday, April 20, 1843.) 

In consequence of the advice given by Lieutenant Lean, 
the Government agent, Mr. Henry Fretwell, the captain of 
the Barbadoes brig, which some months ago left the port of 
London with emigrants for Prince Edward's Island, and Mr. 
Duncan Campbell, the owner of the vessel, were summoned 
before the Lord Mayor, at the Mansion-house, yesterday, to 
answer the complaints of several of the unfortunate persons 
who had broken up their establishments in this country, and 
engaged to go to that remote region in the Barbadoes, under 
the sanction of the British- American Association. The justice- 
room was densely crowded during the investigation, which 
lasted a great length of time. 

Captain Fretwell, who was the first questioned by the Lord 
Mayor, manifested the most laudable desire from the commence- 
ment to give a full explanation as far as he was concerned. 
In answer to the questions put by his Lordship, he said that 
he had been engaged at Gravesend to take command of the 
vessel to Prince Edward's Island, and he sailed from the Downs 
on the 1st of November 1842, with fifty passengers (men, 
women, and children.) When the vessel reached 42° west 
longitude, she encountered heavy winds and seas, and was so 
dreadfully battered as to be obliged to put back to the nearest 
eligible port, which was Cork, a distance of about 1,300 miles. 
On the 22d of December she reached Cork, where she remained 



9* 



until the 9th of April, when she sailed for London, leaving 
behind her in Cork some of the emigrants, but bringing to 
London about thirty of them, who were at the present moment 
lodging and boarding in her in the London Docks. 

The Lord Mayor having ascertained from the captain the 
nature of the damage sustained by the vessel, asked him what 
money he had received from the passengers. 

Captain Fretwell replied that he had not received a farthing 
from any passenger, nor had he received a farthing of pay 
since he joined the vessel. He had caused all the repairs to 
be done to her in Cork. 

The Lord Mayor — How was she provisioned? 

Captain Fretwell stated that no reasonable complaint could 
be made as to the provisions, which were abundant and un- 
exceptionable. The repairs, however, went on very slowly, 
for the agents in Cork began to suspect that they could not 
easily procure remuneration for their outlay. The British- 
American Association, in the meantime, sent to him to state 
that the vessel must sail on the 20th of March, and he made 
every preparation in his power, when he received an intimation 
that she was not to proceed. He paid off the ship's company 
at Cork, and consequently had on board only the mate, the 
steward, the emigrants, and himself. The emigrants never 
expressed the slightest dissatisfaction at his conduct ; on the 
contrary, they were convinced he had done all he could for 
their service ; but they felt and expressed bitter disappoint- 
ment at the manner in which they had been treated by the 
Association, and those who acted for that body. 

The Lord Mayor — Did you expect that you would reach 
Prince Edward's Island at that season ? 

Captain Fretwell — I am sure that if we had not met such 
severe weather (for there have not been such heavy gales on 
the coast of America these ten years), we should have made 
the passage. We were sufficiently manned, and had every- 
thing of the best quality. I have been often to St. John's in 
New Brunswick, and to Miramichi, and I know we should 
have succeeded. When we were on the edge of the banks of 
Newfoundland, we all agreed, in consequence of the necessity 
of the case, to bear for a lee port ; and after consulting with 



10* 



the superintendent of the emigrants, and with the emigrants 
themselves, all of whose protests I received, we acted accord- 
ingly. 

The Lord Mayor — You understood the nature of the voy- 
age you were going. Was it not a very late one ? 

Captain Fretwell — It was late for the emigrants; but I 
have no doubt it would have been effected if the weather had 
not been so bad. We arrived in London on Sunday last, and 
the vessel is now in the London Docks, and the emigrants are 
in her. I have done nothing with them, and I do not con- 
sider myself any longer in command. 

The Lord Mayor — And who is in possession of the vessel? 

Captain Fretwell — Mr. Soames, who has a mortgage upon 
her, has put in a ship-keeper. 

The Lord Mayor — The summons handed in states that you 
unlawfully attempted to force these emigrants to leave your 
ship. 

Captain Fretwell — I never contemplated anything of the 
kind. I have no power whatever in the ship. I have paid 
off the runners I hired in the Cove of Cork, where I dis- 
charged the able crew I had to go the voyage. 

The Lord Mayor — You have answered my inquiry in the 
most candid and straightforward way, and there is no charge 
whatever established to your prejudice. But what are these 
poor men and their families to do, who have calculated on the 
allotment of land, and thrown up their situations in this 
country in the hope of bettering their condition ? 

Lieutenant Lean, the Government agent, said he had heard 
the emigrants speak in the highest terms of the conduct of 
Captain Fretwell. 

The Lord Mayor then questioned Mr. Duncan Campbell at 
considerable length. 

Mr. Campbell stated, in answer to his Lordship, that he 
was sole owner of the Barbadoes, subject to a mortgage to 
Mr. Soames of £375. 

The Lord Mayor — Who were the persons who engaged 
her to take out the emigrants ? 

Mr. Campbell — The principal managers of the British- 
American Association — Sir Richard Broun, Sir William 



11* 



Ogilvie, and Dr. Roife. The ship was chartered by me to 
these three Commissioners to take out emigrants to Prince 
Edward's Island, all most respectable men, but not very rich 
of course. (A laugh.) They engaged him to provide the emi- 
grants at £8 per man, and half-price for children, with food 
and passage out. He provided the ship by a contract with 
Messrs. Leslie & Smith, the extensive provision-merchants, 
with meat, bread, flour, &c, at £2 : 10s. per head. Everything 
that was required for the voyage was, according to the act of 
Parliament, most abundantly supplied. The cargo, which was 
valuable, was bought upon credit ; but now the Association is 
broken up altogether, and I have never received a farthing ; 
I have lost the ship and everything else. 

The Lord Mayor — I find in this printed paper a number 
of great names, the appearance of which was calculated to 
induce people to believe that the Association was a bona fide 
one. There are attached the names of a Duke, fifteen Lords, 
and nearly forty Baronets. You are amongst the Commis- 
sioners, and the emigrants complain that you have not per- 
formed your contract. 

Mr. Campbell — It was impossible for me to perform it. 
The Association is completely broken up. There have been 
several executions put into the house in Bridge Street ; and 
owing to what passed at the Mansion-house in October last, 
the Duke of Argyll, the president of the Society, has resigned. 
There are actions at this moment going on against the Duke 
of Argyll, the Marquis of Downshire, and Sir James Cock- 
burn. 

The Lord Mayor — This paper contains a list of first-rate 
names. 

Mr. Campbell — Yes, but they are broken up altogether. 

The Lord Mayor — The Association may be broken up, but 
these noblemen and gentlemen are not broken up. Are all 
these shareholders ? 

Mr. Campbell — No, they are only the Vice-Presidents and 
Consulting Council. 

The Lord Mayor — How much of the million capital has 
been paid up ? 

Mr. Campbell — none at all. (Laughter.) Nobody paid up 
at all. 



12* 



The Lord Mayor — Now, as you are a Director, you can let 
me know what the plan was with respect to these emigrants 
if you had got them out to Prince Edward's Island. 

Mr. Campbell — Twenty houses had been prepared by the 
Association to receive them, and they were afterwards to be 
located there by our agent, Mr. Goodman junior, a gentleman 
on whose talents and qualifications we have the utmost reliance. 

The Lord Mayor — And what was then to become of them? 

Mr. Campbell — They were to build more houses, and work 
in other ways, and then to be regularly located. 

The Lord Mayor — And how were they to be subsisted? 

Mr. Campbell — There was a month's extra provision going 
out, so that they would be provided for a month after landing. 

The Lord Mayor — And then take their chance of starvation ? 
That is certainly a frightful alternative. These poor men 
have been deceived by the long list of high names, and are 
now thrown into the most serious difficulties. 

Mr. Campbell — I have been deceived myself most egre- 
giously. As to the month's extra provision, the general 
practice is to give extra provision for only a few days after 
arrival. The Association in this adopted a most liberal plan. 

The Lord Mayor — Why, emigrants under such circum- 
stances may die through sheer starvation. 

Mr. Campbell — So they may. {Laughter.) Emigrants are 
not taken out to their destination on such liberal terms. The 
vessel was singularly unfortunate. The voyage is one of six 
weeks. If she had been a fortnight later, she would, I enter- 
tain no doubt, have made the yoyage. 

Mr. George Henley and Mr. Taylor, two of the emigrants, 
and very intelligent men, here stood forward. They stated 
their great object in bringing the case before the Lord Mayor 
to be, to ascertain upon whom the serious responsibility to 
them could be fixed. 

The Lord Mayor — Have either of you paid money for the 
voyage? Mr. Taylor said he had paid £50 for himself and his 
family of eight children, to the Secretary to the Association. 

Mr. Henley stated that he was introduced by the British 
Association to Mr. Halden, whom they acknowledged as their 
agent, and he engaged to pay thirty guineas for his passage, 
&c. by instalments, in the Island. 



13* 

The Lord Mayor — What dreadful mischief arises from the 
use of high names in cases of this kind ! I have no doubt 
that the noblemen and gentlemen whose names appear in this 
paper were wholly ignorant of the nature of the proceeding to 
which it might appear they lent their sanction. 

Mr. Taylor said he had seen in a newspaper an account of 
a meeting in Scotland, which had been attended by some of 
the most respectable individuals, representing the plan of 
emigration, and the advantages with which it abounded ; and 
he was deceived into the belief that the whole was dictated by 
the most honourable feelings. Under these circumstances, he 
determined to go to Prince Edward's Island, and made his 
arrangements accordingly. He had suffered both mentally 
and physically in an extreme degree. The case of all the 
emigrants was now becoming desperate. He was given to 
understand that it was the intention of the mortgagee to sell 
the ship and cargo, and to turn the emigrants, who had not 
one farthing in their possession, completely adrift. A repre- 
sentation had been made to the Magistrates in Cork on the 
subject, and those gentlemen were of opinion that the owner 
was as liable as he would be in the case of a seaman's wages. 

The Lord Mayor — There is no man more respectable or 
humane than Mr. Soames, so that you may rely upon it that 
he will do you justice. 

Mr. Campbell said that Messrs. Leslie & Smith also had a 
mortgage on the vessel. He did not think the emigrants 
ought to make any complaint until they were dispossessed of 
their asylum on board the vessel in which they were at present 
supported. 

The Lord Mayor — What ! not complain when they are 
threatened with being thrown upon the streets to starve, or 
to hurry in a crowd to the workhouse ? It is quite absurd to 
talk in such a manner. 

Lieutenant Lean said it was officially announced to him on 
Tuesday that the provisions would be stopped, and no doubt 
the emigrants would be obliged to leave the vessel. 

The Lord Mayor — I cannot, looking over this prospectus, 
conceive it possible that any of these individuals would suffer 
these poor emigrants to be imposed upon. 



14* 

Mr. Campbell — How comes it then, my Lord, that they 
have done so ? 

The Lord Mayor — I daresay that some of these noblemen 
have, under the impression that the Association was calculated 
to do good, allowed their names, from a benevolent feeling 
alone, to be used. I am convinced that not one of them ever 
dreamt that a number of poor emigrants would be sent out to 
an isolated spot with a month's provisions, to run the chances 
of climate and the various contingencies to which persons in a 
country unknown to them must be subjected. 

It was here stated that the Duke of Argyll took the lead at 
all the public meetings, and made no secret of attaching his 
high name to the acts of the Association, and that his Grace's 
correspondence with the late Lord Mayor clearly proved that 
fact. 

Sir John Pirie, who entered towards the conclusion of the 
investigation, said that the vessel was originally mortgaged to 
Mr. Soames, and that it was now mortgaged to Messrs. Leslie 
& Smith, who, he had not a doubt, would sell the ship at 
once. Indeed, he had had the information from these gentle- 
men themselves. He did not think the ship was by any means 
accountable in this case between the emigrants and the Asso- 
ciation. 

The Lord Mayor — I am of a different opinion; I think 
these poor men have a legal claim upon the ship, and that the 
ship cannot be taken away without fulfilment of the contract; 
if it were otherwise, the most dangerous and extensive frauds 
might be committed upon that pretext. This is a case in 
which I would advise you by all means to have legal advice. 

Mr. Taylor — I am reduced to pauperism with my large 
family, and cannot afford to employ a lawyer. I have not only 
lost my passage money, but I have been obliged to expend the 
money I had put together to apply to the purposes of labour, 
in the cultivation of the land I expected to have held. 

The Lord Mayor — I shall persevere in this inquiry to 
render you as much service as I can. Pray, Mr. Campbell, 
how many shares did these nobleman and baronets take? 

Mr. Campbell — None at all. {Laughter.) The Duke of 
Argyll and Sir James Cockburn were the only two out of the 



15* 



whole list who signed their names for shares. They signed for 
shares to the amount of £500 each. 

The Lord Mayor — And with this £1000 you start the 
Association? Mr. Campbell — It was started long before I had 
anything to do with it 

Mr. Henley requested that the Lord Mayor would postpone 
the case for a few days, in order that the attendance of the 
Secretary and a Mr. Andrews might be procured, and also that 
Mr. Campbell might be called upon to produce his books, 
which might explain the case more fully. 

Mr. Campbell objected to produce his books, and said he 
would not allow any one to overhaul them. 

The Lord Mayor — I shall postpone the case, certainly, and 
I hope that some satisfaction may be obtained. I am decidedly 
of opinion that you have a claim upon the ship, and that she 
is bound to leave you at the place of your original destination. 
I suppose you would still go to Prince Edward's Island, Mr. 
Taylor? 

Mr. Taylor — I should not wish to go without coming to a 
more clear understanding as to the power of the Association. 
I understand they have not an acre of land in Prince Ed- 
ward's Island. 

The Lord Mayor — What! no land there? Is that the case, 
Mr. Campbell? 

Mr. Campbell — Not a single acre, my Lord. {Great laughter.) 

Mr. Henley — They bargained to sell me 150 acres. {Laugh- 
ter.) 

The Lord Mayor — It is quite impossible that any of these 
individuals whose names have been used in this list, could have 
known of all this ; why, it is a most decided and heartless fraud. 
I would send the concocters of it to Prince Edward's Island, 
with a month's provisions. I consider the emigrants the dupes 
of a conspiracy. 

Mr. Campbell — My Lord, I know nothing of these things; 
I have found them out to my heavy cost. I have lost my vessel 
and money, and there are twenty actions against me. 

The Lord Mayor then directed that all the parties should 
appear before him in a few days. 



16* 



{Friday, April 21, 1843.) 

Mansion-House. — The British-American Association. 
— Dr. Rolph, who was alluded to in the affair connected with 
the British- American Emigration and Colonization Association, 
before the Lord Mayor on Wednesday, appeared at the justice- 
room yesterday, while Alderman Gibbs was sitting, and was 
very anxious to deny the correctness of the statement made by 
Mr. Duncan Campbell, that " the ship was chartered by the 
three commissioners, Sir R. Broun, Sir W. Ogilvie, and Dr. 
Rolph." 

Alderman Gibbs said the Lord Mayor intended to enter into 
the merits of the case on a future day ; and intimated to Dr. 
Rolph that it would be the better course to correct any inac- 
curacy in the presence of his Lordship. 

Dr. Rolph said he feared he might not be able to attend 
when the Lord Mayor meant to pursue the investigation, as 
he expected to be obliged to attend elsewhere, in consequence 
of circumstances arising out of the British- American Associa- 
tion. 

Alderman Gibbs — Where do you expect to be obliged to 
attend relative to the Association ? 

Dr. Rolph —At the Bankruptcy Court. 

Alderman Gibbs repeated that it would be advisable in Dr. 
Rolph to attend before the Lord Mayor, who would willingly 
afford any opportunity of correcting inaccuracies, if any arose, 
in the course of the examination which had already taken 
place. 

Dr. Rolph said if it was possible he should be in attendance. 
He, at the same time, was most desirous that what he had to 
say should, as soon as possible, appear before the public by 
means of those channels of communication through which the 
misrepresentation had been made. He then said he denied 
that he was one of the three commissioners who chartered the 
ship Barbadoes for Prince Edward's Island, and he asserted 
that Mr. Campbell was the third commissioner who had acted 
with Sir William Ogilvie and Sir R. Broun in that transac- 
tion; and that the whole arrangement connected with that 
vessel, and the deportation of emigrants to Prince Edward's 



17* 



Island, was planned and entered into during his (Dr. Rolph's) 
absence from England, and had met with his most unqualified 
reprobation and protest immediately upon his return to this 
country. He assured the Alderman that, so great was his 
objection to the late departure of emigrants to North America, 
he had prevented a large number from leaving Belfast for 
Canada, even in the month of July. Connected as he was 
with the government of Canada, he hoped, that in justice to 
him, the impression that he had sanctioned the course adopted 
would be removed. 

A person who said he had a complaint to make against the 
Association, but was desired by Alderman Gibbs to postpone 
it until the Lord Mayor should be ready to attend to it, pro- 
duced a printed paper, which appeared to be a promissory- 
note for £100, and was signed with the names R. Broun, W. 
Ogilvie, and D. Campbell, as commissioners to the British- 
American Association. 

Alderman Gibbs said the name of Mr. Campbell was plain 
enough upon the instrument produced, to which Dr. Rolph's 
name certainly was not attached. 

Dr. Rolph — I was in Canada the time the vessel was char- 
tered. 

The person who appeared to complain against the Associa- 
tion said he believed that Dr. Rolph was absent from England 
at the time the vessel was chartered. He stated that he was 
most anxious to meet Mr. Campbell, who had done so much 
to throw the blame off his own shoulders, at the same time 
that he was deeply involved and responsible in the whole of 
the transaction. 

{Saturday, April 22, 1843.) 
The British -American Emigration and Colonization 
Association is again before the public. As is usual at the 
bursting of a bubble company, by the fraudulent practices of 
which numerous dupes are ruined, the parties implicated in 
this deceptious scheme seek to escape from the consequences 
of their conduct by shifting the responsibility from their own 
to the shoulders of others. Hence we have one day Mr. 
Campbell, another day Dr. Rolph, and another the solicitors 



18* 



of his Grace of Argyll, appearing at the Mansion-house to 
assure the presiding magistrate that they deeply sympathize 
with the sufferers, but that, on whomsoever the blame may 
fall, they are blameless. 

Our readers will remember, that in October last this Asso- 
ciation for conveying emigrants to Prince Edward's Island 
occupied a considerable portion of public attention. Sir John 
Pirie, then Lord Mayor, was appealed to by certain tradesmen 
who had supplied stores for the vessel in which the emigrants 
were to be conveyed to their proposed destination, and who 
found themselves unable to obtain payment for their goods, 
in pursuance of the contract. Some of the passengers also 
began to be uneasy. Circumstances, by no means such as to 
strengthen their confidence in the emigration scheme in which 
they had been induced to embark their all, transpired daily, 
and led them to apprehend that they had been gulled into 
parting with their money to a set of adventurers who had no 
means of fulfilling the hopes they had raised, or the specific 
engagements into which they had entered. Sir John Pirie, 
whose position as an extensive shipowner peculiarly fitted 
him for the investigation, devoted himself with commendable 
diligence to sifting the facts brought before him, expressed 
himself in pretty strong terms upon the character of the high- 
sounding pretensions of the Association and its projectors, and 
warned the persons who contemplated expatriating themselves 
under its auspices, of what they were likely to encounter if 
they persisted in their intention. We lent our aid to analyze 
the scheme, and to demonstrate its iniquity ; we denounced 
the impudent and heartless fraud upon a large number of poor 
creatures who had drained their resources to the last shilling 
to raise the stipulated sums demanded by the cormorant " com- 
missioners," — so the managers of the concern pompously de- 
signated themselves in their prospectus, — as the price of the 
benefits they engaged to confer. The " good ship Barbadoes" 
was chartered to these " commissioners" for the purpose of 
transporting the emigrants to the El Dorado of their imagina- 
tions, but had been detained, by various untoward events, for 
several weeks. At length the vessel sailed, towards the close 
of November, for Prince Edward's Island. 



19* 



The result which the experience of Sir John Pirie enabled 
him to predict, as the probable consequence of such a voyage 
at such a season of the year, has followed. When the vessel 
had got about half way across the Atlantic, according to the 
statement given by the captain, she encountered heavy winds 
and seas, and was so dreadfully battered as to be obliged to put 
back to the nearest eligible port. This port was Cork. There 
she remained more than three months. The repairs, rendered 
necessary by the injuries she had sustained, proceeded very 
slowly, and under frequent interruptions, from the captain's 
lack of money and credit. The emigrants continued on board 
all this time. The provisions laid in for the voyage were con- 
sumed. At length, at the beginning of the present month, the 
captain was directed to sail, — not for Prince Edward's Island, 
but to the place whence he originally went forth. He was 
ordered by the " commissioners" to return to London. The 
commissioners were now as desirous of scattering, as they were 
last autumn desirous of collecting their dupes. 

This brought the concern, its " commissioners," and some 
other high and mighty personages, whose names had figured 
in its previous exhibitions, again before the Lord Mayor. Some 
of the poor, ruined dupes of the flagrant imposition appeared 
at the Mansion-House on Wednesday, to state their cases, and 
those of their companions in misfortune. A Mr. Campbell, one 
of the directors and " commissioners" of the company, and 
who chartered the vessel for the voyage to his brother com- 
missioners, appeared to explain the case, so as to excuse him- 
self and implicate others. In the course of the explanation 
given by Mr. Campbell, it appeared from his statement that 
he had mortgaged the vessel, — that the mortgagee was in 
possession, having seized the vessel, and was about to proceed 
to sale,— and that although he (Mr. C.) was a director and 
commissioner, chartering his vessel to his co-directors and 
commissioners, he never received any money for the under- 
taking! If Mr. Campbell is to be credited, it would appear 
that he was duped — the instrument of adventurers more 
clever than himself. He tells the public he is ruined by the 
scheme. 

That Mr. Campbell knew the whole concern was a bubble, 



20* 

is evident from his own account to the Lord Mayor. From 
that account it is evident that the Association was based in 
dishonesty and fraud. Not a single pound of the " one mil- 
lion " capital paraded in the prospectus was ever paid up ! 
To the prospectus of this combination for obtaining money 
under false pretenses, — and we shall establish the right of the 
Association to be thus stigmatized, — there were appended the 
names of a Duke, fifteen Peers (Scotch), and forty ditto Ba- 
ronets ; all having various parts assigned them in the scheme, 
that full effect might be given by the display. That so large 
a portion of the rank and dignity of the kingdom should have 
consented to interest themselves so deeply in the public wel- 
fare, was the subject not only of surprise but of praise ! Who 
can wonder if the scheme succeeded to an extent that surpassed 
the utmost hopes of its projectors? The Duke of Argyll 
was at its head; and its tail consisted of numerous joints 
worthy of a head so eminent. Yet of the long list of Lords 
and Baronets, with a Duke at their head, not one, as it now 
appears, ever paid a bawbee — the Duke of Argyll and Sir 
James Cockburn alone, of the entire batch, having even con- 
sented to take shares in the concern. " These two," said Mr. 
Campbell, " signed their names for shares to the amount of 
£500 each." Confiding in the integrity and stability of the 
high names attached to their prospectus, several poor persons 
were induced to become emigrants ; and the " commissioners" 
of the Association undertook to sell them large tracts of land 
in Prince Edward's Island. And this contract they entered 
into, well knowing that the Association had not a single perch 
of land in the whole Island ! Were we not justified in design- 
ing the Association " a confederacy for obtaining money under 
false pretences " ? That the poor victims to this base conspi- 
racy have abundant cause for thankfulness, we think is evident. 
They were driven back to their own country by winds and 
waves less merciless than the heartless speculators who would 
have consigned them to starvation. Here they will have, let 
the worst happen that may, a refuge in the poor-house. In 
that last resource for the destitute, themselves, their wives 
and their little ones, will be preserved from the dire death 
which awaited them in the desolate and inclement island on 



21* 

which they would have been landed, there to have expired of 
want. The account given by Mr. Campbell shows, that had 
the voyage been prosperous, and no extraordinary consump- 
tion of provisions taken place during its progress, a month's 
rations was all the supply of food that would have been given 
to the poor creatures on their arrival. And this in the winter 
season, and on an island in the 47th degree of north latitude ! 
Can inhumanity and fraud reach a more flagrant pitch of tur- 
pitude than is here exhibited ? No wonder that the patron, 
president, and active agents of the scheme are anxious to 
avert from themselves the odium which threatens to cover 
them ! 

Dr. Rolph, one of the " commissioners," appeared on Thurs- 
day at the Mansion-house, and sought to clear himself from 
having sanctioned the sailing of the vessel. The Doctor's 
present account scarcely tallies with his speeches delivered in 
justification of the Association, and in support of its claims to 
confidence, delivered after the exposure of the concern in 
October last. Perhaps the investigation in the Bankruptcy 
Court, to which the Doctor alluded as likely to prevent his 
attendance before the Lord Mayor, when the merits of the 
case will be farther ascertained, will elicit further disclosures, 
both as to the doings of the Association, and the persons 
actually implicated in its transactions. 

Yesterday the Duke of Argyll's solicitors attended at the 
Mansion-house, and presented to the Lord Mayor a letter, 
written for the purpose of stating his Grace's real position 
with reference to this Association, and explaining the way in 
which the Duke and Sir James Cockburn were induced to 
embark their names in the concern. Of this letter we will 
only say, that it is not quite consistent with his Grace's own 
letter to the late Lord Mayor, in which admissions were made, 
and explanations given as to the objects contemplated by the 
noble Duke in embarking in this emigration scheme ; which, 
coming immediately from himself, the public will be disposed 
to credit. A letter also appears this morning in the columns 
of a contemporary journal, from a poor tradesman, who was 
induced to supply goods to the order of the Association, to 
the amount of several hundred pounds, on the faith of the 



22* 



high names which appeared in its prospectus. He is now in 
prison for debt, ruined by the loss he has in consequence sus- 
tained. 

We adhere to the opinion we expressed when the affairs of 
this company were last year before the public. We consider 
that the Duke of Argyll, and every other individual whose 
name was affixed — with his own knowledge of its being so — 
to the delusive prospectus, are bound by humanity and justice 
to indemnify the sufferers by the failure of the scheme to 
which they gave the sanction of their names. We had hoped 
that a due sense of what the Duke of Argyll owes to society 
would have induced his Grace, and every other individual who 
was induced to give his sanction to the scheme, to have volun- 
tarily paid the penalty of his folly. By not doing so, the public 
maybe induced to suspect that it was something worse than error 
of judgment, which brought their names into such a connection. 
We also went further; and have seen no reason to retract the 
opinion we then expressed. We believe that his Grace the 
Duke of Argyll and Sir J ames Cockburn, by the act of signing 
their names for shares to the amount of £500, rendered them- 
selves responsible in law for the parties with whom the ma- 
nagers of the Association contracted for the purposes we have 
described, and who have so grievously suffered by their confi- 
dence in the names which they saw appended to the prospectus. 
If Dukes and Lords lend their names to bubble companies, and 
thus give a semblance of stability they could not otherwise 
obtain, surely they ought to be held liable to bond fide con- 
tractors with such companies, as they would be if they indorsed 
bills, and those bills passed into the hands of parties who have 
given bond fide consideration in exchange for them. Or if 
they allow themselves to be represented as partners in a scheme 
for transmitting emigrants to a given place, and fail in fulfilling 
contracts which the company to which they belong has made 
with other parties ; ought they not to be held liable to the 
sufferers by the breach ? It is really painful to have to appeal 
to the power which the law possesses to enforce such contracts, 
when a noble of the highest rank is the party concerned. We 
should have been too well satisfied to have left the question to be 
settled by that sense of honourable obligation which ought to 



23* 



be associated with nobility. We trust, however, the law will 
supply what may be lacking in the Duke of Argyll's sense of 
honourable obligation to the poor dupes to a scheme which 
was launched and was for a time kept afloat by the sustaining 
power of his Grace's name. 

{Monday, April 24, 1843.) 

British -American Association. — The recent expose of 
the proceedings of this Association would appear to have in- 
duced the heads of the department to emigrate in propria 
persona. On Saturday the offices in Bridge Street, Black- 
friars, were shut up, the zinc door-plates removed, the house 
advertised for sale by Messrs. Toplis, without even the cus- 
tomary notice being given as to where the company intended 
to carry on operations for the future. 

{Tuesday, April 25, 1843.) 

The British-American Emigration and Colonization scheme 
having figured in police reports and bankruptcy proceedings, 
was last night introduced to the notice of Parliament. In the 
House of Commons the Lord Mayor drew the attention of 
Lord Stanley, as Colonial Minister, to the case of the poor 
emigrants who were induced to embark for Prince Edward's 
Island, by the specious prospects held out by this Association, 
and by the supposed security afforded by the names of the 
Dukes, Marquises, Lords, and Baronets, which were affixed to 
its prospectus, as vouchers for its integrity and stability. The 
answer of Lord Stanley, in reply to the inquiry made by the 
Lord Mayor, went to exonerate the Government from all 
suspicion of having neglected its duty in the matter. The 
Emigration Commissioners instructed Lieutenant Lean, their 
agent in the port of London, to institute the most searching 
inquiries into the condition of the vessel, and into the quality 
and quantity of the provisions laid in for the emigrants on 
board the Barbados. Remonstrances and warnings were 
used with the Association as to the danger of undertaking the 
voyage at such a season. The emigrants were also cautioned 
by the Government agent against embarking on a voyage so 
pregnant with danger. These remonstrances and warnings 

D* 



24* 



were vain. The company were too anxious to get rid of 
the inconveniences which the alarmed apprehensions of the 
emigrants were continually bringing upon their scheme, to 
allow the vessel to remain an hour longer than possible ; and 
the poor creatures who had embarked their all in the vessel, 
derived courage from despair, and resolved on braving all 
dangers, rather than allow the vessel to depart, and leave them 
and their families homeless and destitute. The subsequent 
adventures of the vessel and its passengers — the dangers they 
encountered in the Atlantic — their arrival in Cork — their 
detention in that port — and their subsequent return to London, 
with the seizure of the vessel by the mortgagee, and the con- 
sequent further development of the impudent and heartless 
frauds perpetrated by the managers of this Association — are 
familiar to the public by means of the published reports of the 
investigations, which the Lord Mayor, after the example of 
his predecessor, has instituted into the proceedings of this 
bubble scheme. 

Lord Stanley's concluding remarks were conceived in a 
proper spirit of indignation against the perpetrators of the 
fraud ; and were expressed in terms, the pungency of which 
will, we trust, cause them to be felt by certain parties who 
have aided the fraud by their names, but have shown a most 
criminal disinclination to make reparation to the sufferers. 
Having alluded to the possible failure of legal remedies against 
the solvent parties, through the technical difficulties which 
surround the case, and under which they might, possibly, 
screen themselves, Lord Stanley continued — " But whilst he 
said this, he could not forbear giving expression to his earnest 
and confident hope, that as this company was established ap- 
parently under the sanction of high and honourable names — 
even though there might be no legal obligation — even though 
those parties had themselves been deceived — even though they 
were not aware that this pretended company was but a bubble 
from its commencement — yet that those high personages would 
nevertheless feel themselves morally, if not legally, bound to do 
something towards remedying the great and grievous hardship 
to which the sanction of their high names and characters had 
doubtless exposed many unsuspecting people ; that they would 



25* 



feel it an obligation and a duty to make such compensation as 
was in their power for the distress they had occasioned." 

The House loudly responded to these appropriate and 
strongly-expressive allusions to the "high personages," and the 
" moral obligations " they had incurred. We devoutly hope 
they will be felt in the quarters to which they were directed, 
and that they will produce the effects designed. Surely the 
Duke of Argyll especially — even though all the others be in- 
sensible to the appeal — will not allow his name and dignity 
to be sullied by the imputations which such a transaction will 
cast upon it if he allow the victims of the fraud perpetrated 
under cover of his permitted employment of that name and 
title to be unredressed; especially seeing that they involve 
absolute ruin to many who showed their confidence in his 
honour by embarking their all under the fancied security his 
name afforded them. 



(Friday, May 19, 1843.) 
COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, MAY 18. 

THE BRITISH-AMERICAN ASSOCIATION in re ROLPH. 

This day was fixed for the examination of his Grace the Duke 
of Argyll, Sir James Cockburn, and other highly respectable 
and influential personages, touching their relationship to the 
bankrupt, as Secretary of the above Association, which has 
for some time past occupied no ordinary portion of public 
attention. 

Mr. Bagshaw and Mr. E. James attended for his Grace and 
Sir J. Cockburn, and Mr. Laurence for Mr. Leslie. 

Mr. Laurence said he proposed to examine the Duke of 
Argyll, and other persons, in order to relieve the bankrupt's 
estate; for it was quite clear that if a partnership existed 
between the bankrupt and the noble and other honourable 
persons, whose names were held forth to the world as being 
equally embarked in the British -American Colonial Association, 
then it was quite clear that his client must come and claim 



26* 



upon the solvent estate, before he would be permitted to do so 
upon the insolvent estate of the bankrupt. 

Mr. E. James said, that in his opinion this examination was 
not intended for its professed object. It would be now his 
duty to read a letter or two from Mr. Leslie, and his agent, to 
show the object Mr. Leslie had really in view. The first letter 
was dated the 4th of April 1843, and purported to have been 
written from 17 St. Dunstan's Hill. It was as follows : — 

" My Lord Duke — It is with great reluctance that I feel my- 
self compelled to address your Grace on the painful subject of 
the British- American Association; but being a large creditor, 
to the amount of £1600, for goods and moneys advanced to 
the Commissioners appointed under your Grace's presidency 
for carrying out the objects of the Association, I have now no 
alternative but to hold you, and all others who allowed their 
names to go forth to the public in the printed prospectus, re- 
sponsible for the acts of the Commissioners. The law in such 
cases is so clear, and the precedents so numerous and so strong, 
that before allowing my solicitor to take steps here, and my 
Edinburgh lawyer (who is now in town) to take steps simul- 
taneously, by arresting your rents in Scotland, I have to solicit 
an interview witli your Grace, to know if you feel disposed to 
meet the case fairly. I believe your own solicitors were the 
first to establish the law in similar cases, by the famous one of 
Vignolle v. Lefroy: and it does seem strange that they should 
persist in holding out that you are not liable in the face of such 
strong evidence to the contrary. It is true, you have been most 
unfortunate in the selection of the parties in whom you stated 
you had full confidence. Had I known them at first as well 
as I do now, I should have shrunk from having any connexion 
with them ; but as it is, I must take the only course left open 
for me. In the hope of hearing from your Grace, that you 
will give me an opportunity of talking over the matter, and as 
soon as possible, it may lead to a speedy and amicable settle- 
ment with all parties, and put a stop to expensive and harass- 
ing litigation. There was a meeting of upwards of twenty 
creditors here last week, all of whom, I have reason to believe, 
would come into such terms as I might recommend ; and really 
the whole of the matter is in a ' nut-shell' after all. — I have 
the honour to be, my Lord, your Grace's obedient humble 
servant, " Archibald Leslie." 

" His Grace the Duke of Argyll, &c" 

"P. S. When I mention that the Earl of Caithness was my 



27* 



uncle, and I am consequently cousin-german to your neigh- 
bour, Lady Janet Buchanan, to whom I gave Dr. Rolph an 
introduction on his last visit to Inverary, your Grace may per- 
haps be inclined to give me credit for seeking this interview, 
in the capacity of a fellow-victim as much as anything else." 

The learned Counsel continued: — This letter gave ample 
evidence of Mr. Leslie's object and intentions, and he would 
now proceed to read an extract from a letter addressed to 
Major Campbell by Mr. Ross, or Mr. Roy, which would at 
once raise the question whether this business was not actually 
a conspiracy against his Grace : — 

" The Duke of Argyll's position will instantly be harassing 
to him, and costly beyond conception. The creditors of the 
American Association put Dr. Rolph into the Gazette on Sa- 
turday, for the purpose of enabling them to get a warrant 
for bringing up the Duke, and another for public examination 
before the Court of Bankruptcy — the most disgusting of bear- 
gardens. He is open to questions from the bankrupt, and any 
creditor and the Court, and his evidence, taken down, forms 
complete evidence against himself. 

" The creditors are about thirty, to the amount of about 
£8000. Besides them, a Mr. Bruce sold the Company lands, 
and he is in debt; and his creditors, to the extent of £5000, 
are on the alert. 

w One creditor, a Mr. Leslie, wrote the Duke, and I saw 
the answer from the Duke's solicitors yesterday. It actually 
says merely that the Duke disapproved of the proceedings, 
and protested. Does that cease to make him a partner, or 
relieve him from responsibility ? Does it not imply an ad- 
mission that he was a partner ? It is infatuation to allow this 
to go on. He subscribed the share list for 500 shares for 
himself, and so many for the Marquis of Lome, and read and 
returned the inclosed minute (viz. the proceedings of the 
meeting held in London on the 8th of June 1842), as preses 
observe, in page 5, ' where the purchases are mentioned 
and approved, and thanks voted for them.' As soon as the 
Duke, at his public examination, admits having taken shares, 
he is himself exposed to have a fiat of bankruptcy issued 
against him, and I cannot see how it can be escaped from. 
I am told his solicitors are very young men, and that the ex- 
pense of the defence against so many as thirty suits will be 
very great. But I do not know them, and those sort of things 
arc often said unfairly. 



28* 



" I yesterday persuaded Mr. Leslie to write an apology to 
the Duke for an unintentional expression in his letter which 
had offended the Duke ; but it seems there is some advantage 
expected to be gained over the Duke (although I can't see 
where it is), by keeping him unaware of the object of Dr. 
Rolph's bankruptcy, and so the solicitor prevented Leslie from 
sending it. I am quite certain that an intelligent unprofessional 
friend would get the matter settled before it goes further." 

Mr. Laurence (with considerable emphasis) — I most indig- 
nantly disclaim any knowledge of that letter on my own be- 
half or that of my client. If that letter were written to his 
Grace by Mr. Roy for him (Mr. Leslie), I would at once give 
up the case. 

Mr. Leslie, examined by Mr. James — I am the petitioning 
creditor in this bankruptcy. The fiat is dated the 6th of April. 
I know Mr. Robert Roy,* who is the party I alluded to in the 
letter of the 4th of April, but he never did any business for 
me. He was in London when I wrote that letter, but I was 
not in communication with him. I did not know, until I 
heard to-day the letter read, that he had written it to his 
Grace. I was shown in the minute-book a list of Directors, 
with their signatures, and the number of shares they held. 
The list of names contained those of Lord Lome, Duke of 
Argyll, Sir James Cockburn, and others. It was entirely on 
the faith of these signatures that credit was given to the Asso- 
ciation to the extent to which we went. 

Mr. Commissioner Holroyd — It appears to me that, taking 
into consideration the whole of these facts as disclosed in this 
case, I cannot refuse to enter into the proposed examination. 

Mr. Bagshaw, at this stage of the proceedings, suggested 
that no further inquiry should take place until Mr. Roy was 
before the Court, in order to furnish the Court with some ex- 
planation of the letter, and by whose authority it was written 
to Major Campbell. This arrangement was agreed to, upon 
the understanding that his Grace and Sir J. Cockburn should 
be in attendance at the next adjourned meeting. Adjourned 
accordingly. 

* This is the notorious Mr. Roy of Dundonnell Cause celebrity, and who 
figured in the suit at the instance of Miss Hope versus Captain Donaldson 
Boswall, of Wardie. 



29* 



{Monday, May 29, 1843.) 

Mansion-House. — The unfortunate persons who were to 
have emigrated to Prince Edward's Island, in the ship Bar- 
badoes, appeared before the Lord Mayor for the purpose of 
receiving their respective shares of the subscription raised in 
their behalf by the exertions of his Lordship and Lieutenant 
Lean, the Agent to her Majesty's Commissioners of Emigra- 
tion. Lieutenant Lean was present at the distribution of the 
money collected, which amounted to £225. The number of 
persons among whom it was divided, was fifty, including men, 
women, and children. Mr. Taylor, who so ably represented 
the body of emigrants when their case was first represented to 
the Lord Mayor, stated that they were every one perfectly sa- 
tisfied, as the money was a donation, it could not be divided 
in any other way than in equal shares, and quite independently 
of the greater claims which some had than others. 

The Lord Mayor — I had hoped that the contributions would 
have been more, and I regret that the truly affecting state- 
ments which have been made by the press have not had a 
more general effect. 

Lieutenant Lean then proceeded to state the particulars of 
the subscription, viz. The Duke of Argyll £50, the Marquis of 
Downshire £30, Sir James Cockburn £25, Lord Scarsdale 
£50, the Marquis of Bute £10, Sir W. Maxwell £10. A 
gentleman, whose name he was not at liberty to mention, had 
benevolently sent £50 for the aid of the ill-treated emigrants. 
Mr. Taylor then said it would of course be understood that 
the emigrants were not, by the receipt of this donation, to be 
precluded from taking legal proceedings for the purpose of 
claiming remuneration for the injuries and losses they had 
sustained. 

The Lord Mayor said by no means. The Duke of Argyll 
and the Marquis of Downshire, he knew, were anxious that 
every satisfaction should be given them. 

The emigrants, after thanking his Lordship for the interest 
he had taken in their misfortunes, and the assistance he had 
afforded them, most respectfully withdrew. 



30* 



{Tuesday, May 30, 1843.) 

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, MAY 29. 
{Before Mr. Commissioner Holroyd.) 

THE BRITISH-AMERICAN COLONIZATION ASSOCIATION, 

In Re Rolph. 

This day was appointed for the purpose of hearing further 
arguments as to the propriety of entering upon the examina- 
tion of his Grace the Duke of Argyll, Sir James Cockburn, 
and other noble and influential personages connected with the 
late British- American Colonization Association, as the alleged 
copartners of the bankrupt ; and also for the examination of 
Mr. Roy as to the authority (whether of the bankrupt or not) 
upon which he wrote a letter, dated April 11th, to a Major 
Campbell, on the subject of the liability of the Duke of Argyll 
in relation to his connexion with the affairs of the said Asso- 
ciation, and therefore, at least by implication, with the estate 
and affairs of the bankrupt. 

Mr. Laurence attended as solicitor for Mr. Leslie (the peti- 
tioning creditor) ; Mr. Cockburn, Q. C, and Mr. E. James, 
for the Duke of Argyll and Sir James Cockburn ; and Mr. 
Tyrrell as solicitor for Mr. Roy. 

Mr. Roy, examined by Mr. James — He was a Writer to 
the Signet in Edinburgh, and was acquainted with Mr. Leslie. 
He was in London in April last ; and the first time he com- 
municated with Mr. Leslie as to the affairs of the British- 
American Association, was either in October or November 
last. The letter dated 11th April, read at the last meeting, 
was " part " of a letter which he wrote to Major Campbell con- 
fidentially, as well as another part on business. The letter was 
written in his own lodgings, Great Ryder Street, St. James' ; 
and he would positively swear that it was not in the slightest 
degree influenced by Mr. Leslie. Had previously to this dined 
with Mr. Leslie, at his house at Wandsworth, with several 
other parties, two or three of whom were connected with the 
Association. Sir Richard Broun, Dr. Rolph, and others, were 



31* 



amongst the company ; but Mr. Duncan Campbell was not 
there. Mr. Leslie's health was proposed at that dinner for 
his " forbearance " in relation to the affairs of the Association. 
Nothing was said directly about the Duke of Argyll, but in 
the course of the conversation something was said of the dif- 
ficulties of the Association, in consequence of his Grace not 
having paid up his shares. 

Mr. Leslie was here ordered to withdraw. 

Mr. James — When you wrote that letter, did you not think 
it was probable that it would reach the ear of the Duke of 
Argyll in some way or other? Will you swear that? — No, 
I will not ; I left it entirely with Major Campbell, who might 
communicate it or not to his Grace. It was quite optional 
to Major Campbell* Mr. Leslie showed me the copy of a letter, 
and when I found it contained a threat of arresting the Duke's 
rents, I said it was oppressive and harsh. He felt distressed, 
said he had got into a scrape ; and, at his request, I wrote out 
the scroll of an ample apology. 

Did he write it? He said he would, to the Duke's solicitor. 

You are largely engaged in emigration in Scotland? I am, 
from my official situation, and was very glad to find the Duke 
of Argyll also favoured emigration. 

Mr. Leslie, examined by Mr. James — I said I was induced 
to strike the docket by Dr. Rolph, who recommended Mr. 
Laurence to me. We had a meeting on the 5th or 6th April, 
at which Mr. Laurence was present, when the fiat was dis- 
cussed. 

What passed upon that occasion ? Mr. Laurence objected 
to the disclosure of confidential communications between the 
client and his solicitor. 

Mr. Cockburn, Q. C, and Mr. James, here contended at 
considerable length that the Court had no power to act upon 
the mere suggestion of a solicitor, however respectable, that 
the proposed examination would tend to benefit the bankrupt's 
estate. 

Mr. Laurence, contra, contended, at great length, that the 
evidence once begun could not be now curtailed. 

Mr. Commissioner Holroyd said, it appeared to him that in 
this case sufficient reasons had been stated in the first instance, 

E * 



32* 



to issue summonses for the Duke of Argyll and Sir James 
Cockburn ; and lie had proceeded, as he did in all other cases, 
to ascertain if these grounds were the proper ones on which 
to act. In this case, it does not appear that there are any 
assets ; but were there any to be distributed, and if the ques- 
tion were to arise as to contributions, as between the several 
partners, then the examination might be let in with a view to 
relieve the bankrupt's estate, and possibly thereby to assist 
other parties, which they would then be legitimately entitled 
to. But the present time did not appear to him to be the 
proper time to enter into the proposed examination. Mr. 
Laurence, however, if he wished, might have the opinion of 
another Court. 

Mr. Laurence said he was extremely anxious for the fullest 
inquiry, and hoped his Honour would adjourn the further 
hearing either to the Court of Review or a Subdivision Court 
for that purpose. 

Mr. Commissioner Holroyd — I have already giveri my 
opinion that this examination cannot be proceeded with : 
therefore I cannot adjourn it, but will take time to consider 
the point. 



{Monday, June 12, 1843.) 

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, JUNE 10. 
In Re Rolph. 

This day was fixed for the bankrupt's final examination. 

Sir James Hamilton put in the following claim : — 

" Dr. Rolph to Sir James Hamilton Hay, for salary due to 
me by the British- American Association, from the 1st of June 
1841, to the 1st of June 1843, being two years, at £450 per 
annum — £900," 

Mr. Laurence (for the fiat), said that Sir. James Hamilton 
Hay (by the prospectus) was a commissioner, and was to have 
been Superintendent of Emigration in Canada. I have said 
to him that he must go against other parties ; for if there be 
no joint estate, it cannot be said that there are not solvent 



33* 



partners. I believe, however, that Sir James does not seek to 
press his claim. 

A creditor named Payne said he had a claim against the 
Association to some amount, and that he wished to put some 
questions to Dr. Rolph, relative to the situation of the cargo 
of the ship Barbadoes. 

Mr. Laurence said that the gentleman had not yet proved, 
but still he would not object on that account to his putting 
any questions as to the bankrupt. 

After a few minutes' conversation with the creditor, Mr. L. 
proceeded to say that he (Dr. Rolph) would give every infor- 
mation as to the cargo of the vessel (the Barbadoes) ; and with 
this assurance the creditor expressed himself satisfied. 

After the usual interrogatories had been put to and answered 
by the bankrupt, and having signed his examination at the 
last hearing, he was declared to have passed his final exami- 
nation. 



COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, DECEMBER 4, 1843. 

WOODS V. THE DUKE OF ARGYLL AND ANOTHER. 

This action was brought to recover from the defendants, the 
Duke of Argyll and Major-General Sir James Cockburn, the 
sum of £37 : 5s. for w r ork and labour performed for the de- 
fendants, in copying certain maps, and making a journey to 
Gravesend. The Duke of Argyll, it appeared, had been put 
down by the promoters of the scheme as the President of the 
British- American Association for Emigration and Colonization, 
which seemed to have had its origin in an association founded 
for the purpose of securing to the Nova Scotia Baronets cer- 
tain estates in Nova Scotia. The proceedings of the British- 
American Association, the fate of the emigrants who had 
taken berths in the ship Barbadoes, and the bankruptcy of 
Dr. Rolph, one of the principal promoters of the Association, 
have been made so familiar to the public through the instru- 
mentality of the police and bankruptcy reports, that it will 
not be necessary to do more than advert to the evidence by 



34* 



which it was sought to fix the defendants with liability for the 
acts of the Association. It appeared that the order to copy 
the maps, &c. was given by the Secretary of the Association 
in August or September 1842, and that the first meeting 
which the Duke of Argyll and Sir James Cockburn attended, 
was held on the 22d of April in the same year. They attended 
another meeting on the 29th of April, and another on the 8th 
of June, and after that time there was no evidence to show 
that they ever interfered in any way, directly or indirectly, 
with the proceedings of the society, or attended any of their 
meetings. It appeared that a prospectus was published, in 
which the Duke of Argyll figured as President, and a number 
of noblemen and gentlemen as Vice-Presidents, besides a num- 
ber of Baronets, among whom was Sir James Cockburn, who 
formed the " Consulting Council ; " but it seemed from the 
same prospectus, that the whole management of the affair was 
left in the hands of six " Commissioners," and that the func- 
tions of the President, Vice-Presidents, and Consulting Coun- 
cil, were exclusively confined to the protection of the interests 
of the shareholders. It was arranged by the very constitution 
of the Association, that no Peer or Baronet who became a 
Vice-President should be liable as such to the expenses of the 
Association ; and it appeared by one of the resolutions which 
was adopted on the 8th of June, that it was determined that 
nothing should be done by the Association till £50,000 had 
been subscribed for. Only £7000 was subscribed for up to 
December 1842. There were several minor features in the 
case, but the above were its leading characteristics. 

Lord Chief- Justice Tindal summed up, and the jury, who 
retired at ten minutes to six, returned into Court in about 
twenty-five minutes, with a verdict for the defendants. 



COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, JANUARY 16, 1844. 

WOOD V. THE DUKE OF ARGYLL AND ANOTHER. 

Mr. Sergeant Byles said that this was an action tried on the 
5th of last month before Chief- Justice Tindal, and was brought 



35* 



to recover the sum of £37 for maps and plans supplied by the 
plaintiff to the British and North- American Land Association, 
of which it was contended the defendants, the Duke of Argyll 
and Sir James Cockburn, were directors and members. The 
jury at the trial returned a verdict for the defendants, and the 
learned Sergeant moved to-day for a rule calling on them to 
show cause why that verdict in their favour should not be set 
aside, and a new trial had, on the ground of the decision 
being contrary to the evidence adduced. He contended that 
the defendants had made themselves liable by their proceed- 
ings to the preliminary Association, the object of which was 
to start the project of the North- American Land xissociation 
itself; and that they held themselves out to the world as sup- 
porting that society in such a way as to make themselves 
responsible in such an action as the present. On these grounds 
he applied for this rule. 

The Court decided that the rule must be refused, as their 
Lordships thought that at the trial the fullest inquiry had been 
made into all the circumstances of the case. The case had 
been left to the jury on three points, viz. whether there was a 
direct contract between the parties ; whether there was any 
liability on the ground of partnership ; and whether the de- 
fendants had held themselves out to the plaintiff so as to be 
responsible for the acts of the executive committee. The jury 
had thereupon found in the negative, and in favour of the 
defendants on all points, and the Court therefore saw no 
ground whatever for disturbing the verdict that had been 
given after mature consideration. The evidence showed no 
contemplation by the defendants to form a company; but that 
they had cautiously guarded themselves from responsibility, 
until £50,000 had been really and bona fide subscribed by 
purchase of shares in the proposed Association. That never 
had been done, and the Court therefore thought the society 
was never in fact formed, so as to render the defendants liable 
to any such claim as that made in this action. The rule was 
accordingly refused. 



7 



Leading Article from " The Globe' 1 of Feb. 23, 1846. 

The history of actions for libel, brought by individuals against 
journals of established reputation, would form an interesting 
chapter in the annals of civil jurisprudence. 

After a somewhat protracted career in journalism, during 
which we have been peculiarly exempt from such annoying 
and expensive visitations, the Globe has been called upon to 
contribute its quota to the materials for such a history. 

In another part of our columns will be found the report of 
a trial which took place in the Court of Common Pleas, Guild- 
hall, before Chief-Justice Tindal, on Friday and Saturday last, 
in which the proprietors of this journal, through their pub- 
lisher, were called upon to answer the complaint of a " Sir 
Richard Broun, Knt.," for an alleged libel upon his cha- 
racter, and by which he sought to recover compensation in 
damages for the injuries thus inflicted upon him. 

On the 4th of July 1844, an article appeared in our co- 
lumns, containing some strictures on the British -American 
Colonization and Emigration Association, the history of which 
is still fresh in the public recollection. Of that fraudulent 
and extensively mischievous scheme, Sir Richard Broun was 
the projector, and one of the three self-constituted " Commis- 
sioners" and Managers. We designated that project by terms 
expressive of its true character ; and its Commissioners and 
Managers by appellations which were but descriptive of the 
frauds they had practised on the credulous and unwary by its 
means. For that article we were proceeded against by Sir R. 
Broun. We replied to the declaration in the action by a jus- 
tification of every count. At one time it was doubtful whether 
the plaintiff — like others of his class — had not abandoned his 
cause. Not being able to discover the residence of the worthy 
knight, our attorney obtained a judge's order, requiring the 
plaintiff's attorney to furnish the defendant with the present 
residence of the plaintiff. That order had the effect of hang- 
ing up the cause for several months. It was not convenient 
— perhaps it was not possible — for the plaintiff's attorney to 



8 



obey the order. After the lapse of several months, a " local 
habitation" — he already had " a name" — was assigned to 
the plaintiff. He was the occupant of a humble lodging in 
one of the obscure streets in Brompton, where, however, he 
was never visible to inquirers, being invariably " out" when- 
ever application was made to obtain an interview with him. 

At length, as we have said, the action was brought to trial 
on Friday and Saturday last. The plaintiff's first witness was 
a Mr., alias Doctor, Thomas Rolfe, one of the self-constituted 
' ' Commissioners " and Managers of the bubble Association. 
That witness, in his searching cross-examination by Sir Tho- 
mas Wilde, completely confirmed every statement we had made 
in the article set forth as a libel on Sir Richard Broun, as 
one of the " commissioners" and managers of the Association. 
Fabricated minutes ; interpolated resolutions — documents con- 
cocted and issued for the purposes of deception — were, in 
succession, placed in the witness's hand, who was compelled 
to admit that they were fabrications. The " constitution" of 
the Association was at length placed before him. That docu- 
ment professed to define the powers of the " commissioners" 
and "executive council;" and, as it originally stood, conferred 
no authority for issuing loan-notes. It simply authorized the 
" commissioners" and " executive council" to raise money by 
the disposal of shares. This was inconvenient, for shares were 
not in demand ; and Sir Richard Broun and his confreres were 
desperately hard-up for funds. At a meeting at which his 
Grace the Duke of Argyll and Sir James Cockburn were pre- 
sent, the plaintiff and his co-commissioners being also there, 
the latter ventured to propose that money be raised on deben- 
tures. The Duke of Argyll and Sir James Cockburn, up to 
this time, seem to have been blinded to the real character of 
the Association and its managers. This proposal, however, 
appears to have excited their suspicions. They protested, as 
they well might, against any such proceeding ; alleging that, 
as the Association had not a foot of land, there was no secu- 
rity for the payment of the debentures, if issued. His Grace, 
in conjunction with Sir James Cockburn, also declared that 
they would be no parties to any further operations of the Asso- 
ciation until the sum of £50,000 was subscribed for shares. 



9 



This determination of the Duke and Sir James Cockburn 
was a poser to the plaintiff and his brother commissioners. 
They had made every preparation to obtain a concurrence on 
the part of those who interposed this formidable and apparently 
fatal objection to what they intended should open up a source 
whence funds should now to their hands. We have said that 
the deed of constitution, as originally " settled," signed, and 
sealed, contained no provision for raising money on loan-notes. 
This was a trifling defect, easily supplied by such ingenious 
functionaries as those who managed the affairs of the British- 
American Colonization and Emigration Association. These 
worthies, the plaintiff and his witness Rolfe — being either 
concoctors of or parties to the fraud and forgery — actually 
removed, or caused to be removed, a sheet from the deed of 
constitution, as it originally stood, and interpolated another 
sheet, on which, by means of smaller and more closely-com- 
pressed writing, they introduced the clause empowering them 
to raise money on loan-notes. The interpolated sheet was 
written by a clerk who did not enter the service of these "com- 
missioners" until several months after the deed, as it was ori- 
ginally settled, was executed. 

The production of the fabricated deed, and the extorted ad- 
mission of the witness to the facts, as we have stated them, 
was decisive of the plaintiff's case. Mr. Sergeant Talfourd 
and Mr. Sergeant Channell, his counsel, declined to sanction, 
by their further appearance in the cause, conduct so flagrantly 
fraudulent. They communicated their decision to Sir Thomas 
Wilde, who was still pursuing his destructive cross-examination 
of the plaintiff's witness, and subsequently to the Court. As 
it was admitted that one of the defendant's pleas on the record 
— that which affirmed the non-seaworthiness of the Barbadoes 
— could not be sustained ; and on that plea, therefore, if with 
only a farthing damages, a verdict must have been taken for 
the plaintiff; it was agreed to withdraw a juror. 

This arrangement, so far as the costs are concerned, is pre- 
cisely the same as though the plaintiff had obtained a verdict 
for the smallest coin — each party bears his own costs. We 
need hardly remark that this result is substantially the same 
to the proprietors of this journal as though they had obtained 

c 



10 



a verdict from the jury. They were well aware, throughout 
the proceedings, that they could never have obtained a penny 
from the plaintiff of the heavy costs they must necessarily in- 
cur in defending the action. 

One of the amusing incidents in the drama of villany, as 
proved by the admissions of the witness Rolfe, and confirmed 
by the minutes of the proceedings of the " commissioners," 
was the coolness with which these worthies voted large salaries 
to each other. £1000 per annum to Andrews, "commissioner, 
registrar, and solicitor;" £1000 per annum to Sir Richard 
Broun, the plaintiff, for his eminent services ; £500 per an- 
num to the witness Rolfe, as " commissioner," &c. &c. The 
amounts were paid in loan-notes ; the signing parties mutually 
releasing each other from personal liability. These loan-notes, 
worthless as waste paper itself, were to be negociated, if pos- 
sible. In some instances they were used as instruments for 
raising the wind. Rolfe, when pressed as to the amount 
which the debentures and loan-notes actually issued by the 
' ' commissioners " represented, would not say whether the 
former was £10,000 or £100,000. Of the loan-notes it was 
admitted that £17,000 had passed through his hands alone. 
It is but fair to infer that the other " commissioners" were as 
liberally dealt with. 

We confess to a feeling akin to disappointment at the sud- 
den — we had almost said premature — termination of the trial. 
We could have wished that the proceedings of the plaintiff 
and his associates had been more fully exposed, as they would 
have been, had the cause proceeded. There were letters in 
Court, written by these worthies to each other at the time 
when they held out to the public that they were proprietors 
of an illimitable extent of territorial possession, and had thou- 
sands of pounds sterling under their control, earnestly pressing 
for a remittance of ten, or even five, pounds, to meet their 
extreme necessities. A letter would have been put in, written 
by the plaintiff, Sir Richard Broun, to the secretary of the 
Association, suggesting the expediency of dropping the " Sir," 
and substituting " Mr. ; " and recommending that, in writing 
his name in future, the letters forming " Sir" should be so 
written as that they might appear to express either appellative. 



11 



Passing over multitudes of fabricated and interpolated minutes 
and resolutions of a similar character, and framed for equally 
fraudulent purposes with those which had already been recog- 
nised and admitted by the plaintiff's witness, we will only 
adduce one. Certain resolutions and other proceedings of the 
commissioners, which were set forth to have been passed and 
recorded in April, were not entered until the September fol- 
lowing. One of the last resolutions in the commissioners' 
minute-book is one declaring that the plaintiff, Sir Richard 
Broun, had " forfeited the confidence of his brother commis- 
sioners, and was no longer worthy of a seat at the board ; " 
seeing he had seized upon, and secretly removed from the pre- 
mises of the Association, almost everything moveable, and ap- 
propriated the proceeds to his own use. Whether they would 
not have been beforehand with him, and anticipated him in 
the spoliation, may be fairly doubted. However, the fact is 
upon record, and would have been brought out, but for the 
merciful abandonment of the case by the plaintiff's counsel. 

We had in Court a host of witnesses, including tradesmen 
who had been robbed, and some of them actually ruined, by 
the loss of the goods and money obtained from them by the 
false pretexts of the plaintiff and his confederates ; others who 
would have established that which constituted the essence of 
the alleged libel, that the Duke of Argyll and the other noble- 
men and gentlemen whose names were paraded before the pub- 
lic to give a^tparent stability to the deception, were lured into 
lending their countenance to the objects of the Association by 
pretences the most false, and by the production of documents 
and letters framed and fabricated for the purpose of carrying 
on the delusion. The endeavour to unite the objects of the 
Nova Scotia Baronets, who were seeking from the Crown a 
recognition of their claims, with the pretended objects of the 
Association, was a part of the scheme. This enabled the plain- 
tiff to parade a number of really respectable names before the 
public eye, — as though these personages were identified with 
the Association. When the Nova Scotia Baronets insisted on 
their objects being severed, and henceforth kept distinct from 
the objects of the Association, a heavy blow and great dis- 
couragement were inflicted on the scheme of the plaintiff and 
his confederates. 



12 



We have extended this article to a length only justified by 
the circumstances in which we have been placed. The evi- 
dence of the plaintiff's own witness proves that we did not 
injure the fame or feelings of an honest man. We have vindi- 
cated our own integrity ; have exposed the villanies of a set of 
impudent knaves ; and have thus shown that the protection of 
the public against such characters is, as it ought to be, one 
of the principal objects in the conduct of this journal. By 
inserting a plausible statement sent us by Sir R. Broun three 
or four days after the appearance of the article on which he 
founded his action, and which was an attempt to revive the 
defunct Association, we might have propitiated his mighty 
wrath, and even obtained his distinguished patronage. A pri- 
vate note from the illustrious knight, sent with his statement, 
proposed that " if the article were inserted, he would take 
200 copies of the paper in which it appeared, for circulation 
among his friends in Scotland — provided six months' credit 
were given him for the amount" (£4 : 3 : 4.) ! 

It would have been surprising if, during the railway mania 
of the last year, the plaintiff were not found among the pro- 
jectors or directors of one or more of the numerous bubbles 
which were formed to induce those who had more money than 
discretion to intrust their spare cash to the keeping of persons 
who had more ingenuity than money. Accordingly, we find 
" Sir Richard Broun, Bart." with the prefix of " The Hon." 
to his other equally valid title, at the head of a list of names 
who figure as the Directors of a Paris and Dieppe Railway 
project. In how many more railway schemes the plaintiff had 
a share, we know not. It must be admitted, that with such 
recommendations as he could obtain from the British- American 
Colonization and Emigration Association, his title and qualifi- 
cations for business would be found invaluable, and ought to 
be secured by those capable of appreciating the worth of dis- 
tinguished rank, high character, and vast experience in business 
of a certain class — at any price. 



13 



COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, 

February 20. 

{London Sittings after Term, before Lord Chief-Justice 
Tindal and a Special Jury.) 

[We take the following ample and accurate report from 
the Times.'] 

BROUN, KNIGHT, V. EVE. 

Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, Mr. Sergeant Channell, and Mr. 
Hosack, appeared for the plaintiff; and Sir Thomas Wilde, 
Mr. Humfrey, and Mr. Phinn, for the defendant. 

The plaintiff in this case is Sir Richard Broun, who, at the 
period when the action was commenced, as the eldest son of a 
Scotch Baronet, assumed the title of Knight, and who, by 
descent, is now a Baronet ; and the defendant is the publisher 
of the Globe newspaper. The action was brought to recover 
damages for an alleged libel published by the defendant against 
a certain company called the British- American Emigration and 
Colonization Association, of which the plaintiff was one of the 
chief promoters and directors. The libel complained of was 
published in the Globe on the 4th of July 1844, and alleged 
that the said association was a " jobbing scheme," got up by 
" penniless commissioners and directors," by whom the Duke 
of Argyll had " allowed himself to be duped," and by his 
" becoming the patron and president of the bubble" the public 
had been duped, and emigrants had been induced to lodge 
their money with " the commissioners," and embark on board 
" the good ship Barbadoes" for Prince Edward's Island; that 
the vessel was compelled to put back, not being seaworthy, 
and the whole scheme " an enormous humbug." The alleged 
libel concluded with recommending that the names of all 
shareholders in such companies should henceforth be regis- 
tered under the provisions of the Joint Stock Companies bill, 
then before the House of Commons, in order that the public 
might be protected " against sharpers of both high and low 
degree." 

To the declaration setting forth the libel at length in hwc 
verba, the defendant pleaded a number of pleas: — 1. Not 



\ 



14 

guilty. 2. That no such company had been associated toge- 
ther under the name of the British- American Association. 3. 
That the plaintiff was not one of the projectors, or a member, 
director, or manager of the association. 4. That the defen- 
dant did not use the word " bubble " for the purpose of 
expressing an unlawful joint-stock company. 5. That the de- 
fendant did not use the word " sharpers " for the purpose of 
expressing persons addicted to fraudulent practices. 6. That 
the defendant did not use the word " humbug " for the pur- 
pose of expressing delusion or deception. 7. That the ship 
Barbadoes was not a good and seaworthy vessel, but on the 
contrary; and was by her default compelled to put back. 
8. Except as to part of the declaration, the defendant pleaded 
a justification ; and 9. As to the part excepted, the defendant 
pleaded a justification. On these pleas issue was joined. 

Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, in opening the case to the jury, said 
the plaintiff, Sir Richard Broun, was a gentleman of ancient 
Scottish family, who, since the commencement of this action, 
had succeeded to his father's Baronetcy, which was one of 
those created by James II. The present action was nominally 
brought against the printer of the Globe newspaper, for pub- 
lishing a libel in that paper on the 4th of July 1844. The 
nature of that article, which did not in terms name the plain- 
tiff, was an attack on a society which had its origin in 1841, 
and which came to an end in 1842, and which was a scheme 
for promoting emigration from this country — especially from 
the Western Islands of Scotland — to Canada, of which society 
Sir Bichard Broun became one of the projectors and a most 
active promoter, and became responsible for its general scheme, 
objects, design, and views. The nature of the charge which 
appeared in the Globe newspaper would be read to them. It 
did not state that this was a scheme originating in any rash- 
ness of purpose, but that it was from first to last a wicked 
fraud, devised not for the purpose of promoting emigration 
from this country to Canada, but with the wicked design of 
obtaining for the promoters the moneys of those persons who 
might be induced to take shares in that association, and of 
appropriating those moneys to their own use. That was the 
nature of the charge, and it was one which the plaintiff had 



15 



felt it due to his character to contradict ; and that was the 
charge which the defendant had to prove, and on which the 
jury had to determine. Before he introduced the article of 
which the plaintiff complained, it seemed to him better that 
he should give to them a short outline of the history of this 
Association. In 1841 this Association took the name of the 
British- American Association, and it had its origin in the la- 
mentable state of destitution which, in 1839 and 1840, befel 
the population of the Western Islands of Scotland. They were 
aware that on the western coast of Scotland there were a num- 
ber of barren islands inhabited by a scanty population, stretch- 
ing from the mouth of the Clyde along the coast of Argyle- 
shire, Inverness-shire, and Boss-shire. Their inhabitants were 
accustomed to food of the poorest description, and to derive 
their support from the scantiest resources ; and when any fa- 
mine came, they were driven to the most dreadful distress. 
The same observation applied to the inhabitants of the Hebrides 
Islands spread out in the western seas. 

His Lordship here intimated that, from an examination of 
the record, this appeared to him to be one of those cases in 
which honestly and justly something might be said to satisfy 
the plaintiff. 

Sir T. Wilde — I don't know what will satisfy him, my 
Lord. 

Mr. Sergeant Talfourd continued — He certainly should 
have been most glad to adopt the kind suggestion of the Lord 
Chief Justice, and to satisfy the action ; but the impression 
the defendant had received was such as precluded such an ar- 
rangement. In 1839 the distress in these islands had become 
the object of private charity. Amongst others similarly si- 
tuated with the plaintiff, who was descended from a Baronet 
created in the time of James II. (who, when he wanted money, 
sold those titles, together with large grants of land in JNova 
Scotia, under the plea of colonizing them), the plaintiff was 
anxious to forward measures for obtaining a renewal of the 
grants of those lands to which this class of Baronets believed 
themselves to be entitled under charter from the Crown. 
Whether legal or not, these were rights which the plaintiff 
and others honestly claimed. At this period the plaintiff was 



16 



secretary to the Society of Baronets, who naturally took a sort 
of hereditary interest in these possessions ; and Sir Richard 
Broun naturally also took an interest in the practical question 
of emigration from the most densely populated of the Western 
Islands, for the purpose of planting new colonies in the Cana- 
dian possessions, to which he and others believed themselves 
entitled. In 1840 a great meeting was held, under the pre- 
sidency of the Duke of Argyll, at the Hopetoun Booms, in 
Edinburgh, for the purpose of ascertaining what relief could 
be given to these poor islanders by emigration. That meeting 
was attended by a gentleman intimately connected with Cana- 
dian affairs, and who held a high office under successive Cana- 
dian governments. That gentleman, of the name of Rolfe, had 
been educated for the medical profession. He had practised 
in that profession in England, but fell into misfortunes, and 
went (as many men of enterprise and talent had done who did 
not find a fair field in this country) to Canada ; and there he 
was appointed to be the government emigration agent in that 
colony. At that meeting Mr. Bolfe expatiated on the advan- 
tages which might be derived from an extensive and systema- 
tic scheme of colonization from the western shores of Scotland. 
He became acquainted there with the plaintiff, and the plain- 
tiff was induced to unite with him in the designs which he 
was desirous of promoting. Mr. Rolfe returned shortly after 
to Canada, and directed attention to the cultivation of large 
tracts of land in that country. He shortly after returned 
again to this country, the accredited agent of the Canadian 
government and of Canadian proprietors of millions of acres, 
authorized to treat for the sale, upon a certain commission to 
himself, of large portions of territory in that country. Mr. 
Rolfe had received the thanks of the Canadian government, 
and various presents of from £100 to £500 for his zeal in the 
cause of emigration, and held an appointment of £500 a-year 
from that government. With great knowledge of the subject, 
and enthusiastic zeal for the promotion of its objects, he as- 
sociated himself with the plaintiff and other persons of much 
higher rank, in 1841 ; and in 1842 considerable progress was 
made in the prosecution of their design of colonizing lands in 
Canada by means of this Association. Meetings were held, 



17 



which were attended by the late Marquis of Downshire, the 
Marquis of Bute, and other persons; and in 1841 this Associa- 
tion was formed, under the title of " The Scottish and British 
American Association." His Grace the Duke of Argyll, after 
a communication with Mr. Rolfe, became President, and the 
Marquis of Huntly, Lord Forbes, and others, became Vice- 
presidents, and a " consulting council" was formed of honour- 
able persons. The plaintiff and Mr. Rolfe were commissioned 
to visit the North of Scotland, and took the title of Commis- 
sioners. In 1842 Mr. Rolfe returned from Canada, accom- 
panied by Sir Allan M'JNab, now the Speaker of the Canadian 
Legislature, their object being chiefly to forward this scheme 
of emigration. On the 4th of April there was a meeting of 
the Association, and various provisions were made with re- 
spect to the purchase of large properties which Mr. Rolfe was 
commissioned to dispose of. On April 22, 1842, the Duke of 
Argyll presided over the " consulting council," and that meet- 
ing was adjourned to the 29th of April, and on that day the 
Marquis of Downshire presided, and measures were adopted 
which led to the plaintiff, Sir Allan M'Nab, and Mr. Rolfe, 
being directed to proceed to Scotland and advocate the objects 
of the Association there ; and, in consequence, two great meet- 
ings were held in the following month of May, in Edinburgh 
and Glasgow, the Lord Provosts presiding in each of those 
places. Mr. Rolfe addressed the meetings, and explained the 
scheme, which was embraced with enthusiasm by many gen- 
tlemen there ; among them by Mr. Sheriff Alison, the his- 
torian of the French Revolution. Upon the return of these 
parties to London, a meeting was held, which was presided 
over by the Duke of Argyll, and it was then proposed that a 
share list should be opened, and that capital should be raised 
and employed for the purpose of paying the first instalments 
for the purchase of the lands they were in treaty for. One of 
these treaties was for the purchase of many thousand acres of 
land from a person named Cunard, in Prince Edward's Island. 
It was then discussed whether the Society should issue shares 
or debentures, and it was determined to issue shares. The 
share list was headed by the Duke of Argyll, who agreed to 
take fifty shares, and he was followed by many others, who 



18 



agreed to take a certain number of shares ; among them by 
Mr. Rolfe. The deposit to be paid for the shares was £5 per 
share. He believed that the only persons who ever paid any 
deposit at all on these shares was the plaintiff (who paid £250 
into Glynn's bank), Mr. Rolfe, and Sir W. Ogilvie, who each 
paid a similar sum, making £750 altogether, which was all 
the money that was ever obtained from anybody on the faith 
of this scheme. The scheme had every appearance of prosper- 
ing, when Mr. Rolfe was obliged to return to Canada. During 
his absence, an occurrence happened which ruined the Asso- 
ciation. It was not intended that any actual outlay should be 
made till £50,000 should be subscribed and in hand. Sir 
James Cockburn had proposed that that course should be 
adopted, and it was adopted. But it so happened that there 
seemed to offer to " the commissioners " a favourable oppor- 
tunity to send out a pioneer band, to be located on that land 
which the Society had agreed to purchase, and who, going 
there as approved workmen, should facilitate the views of the 
Association. This was a small episode — a little excrescence 
in the proceedings, which the " commissioners " ought not to 
have taken without the entire consent of the Society. It was 
stated to them, that a gentleman of the name of Haldon was 
willing to engage a band of persons of from 50 to 80 selected 
workmen, who might go out without risk to themselves, and 
prepare the way for those who might follow not so skilled. 
Mr. Haldon proposed to charter a vessel, and to make his con- 
tract with those persons, and they were to go out at a certain 
price of purchase-money to be paid to him, and were to be 
his servants. When they arrived they were to have allotted to 
them, on the land which the association had agreed to pur- 
chase, an acre in the first instance to clear, at a rent of Is. an 
acre, and to have the option of purchasing it in four years at 
£1, and then to have the option of obtaining three acres more 
at a rent of Is. an acre, or £1 for the fee-simple ; and the 
Association was not to be called on to expend any money on 
that contract. Mr. Duncan Campbell undertook to charter a 
vessel called " the Barbadoes " to carry out these persons. 
He was to be paid £8 for each adult passenger, and £4 for 
each child ; and he was to find them with everything proper 



19 



for the voyage. He was also to take out the goods of the 
Association at 4s. a ton, and consented to receive payment in 
debentures, and not in cash, to which debentures the share- 
holders were liable, no charter having been obtained. " This, 
therefore, became the speculation of Mr. Campbell, so far as 
his vessel was concerned, and of Mr. Haldon, so far as the 
emigration was concerned, and had nothing to do with the 
Association. A number of persons entered into bargains with 
Mr. Haldon, and what those bargains might be, he was not 
prepared to state by legal evidence. With the exception of 
one man named Taylor, who paid £50 for the passage of him- 
self and family, not one of those persons paid a single shilling 
to Mr. Haldon." These persons went on board the vessel, 
which was to lie a month on demurrage. Some one wrote to 
Lord Stanley, calling his attention to this vessel. Whether 
this was some rival company, or who it might be, he knew 
not, further than this, that the attention of Government was 
called to the vessel, and an inquiry took place, which caused 
considerable delay, on the allegations that the vessel was not 
seaworthy, and was not properly provisioned. An officer made 
a thorough inquiry, and it was found that the vessel had been 
completely repaired and was entered at Lloyd's in the second 
class ; and there was no pretence for saying that the vessel 
was not in every respect seaworthy and properly stored with 
provisions, and the result of the inquiry was perfectly satisfac- 
tory. While the vessel was lying at Gravesend, some of the 
passengers who had agreed to go, but then declined, made 
complaints at the Mansion-house, before the Lord Mayor, 
against Mr. Haldon. They preferred some claim against him 
which that gentleman thought it better to compromise with 
them, and he paid them some sums of money for the purpose 
of preventing their claims, taking their receipts. But that 
had occurred which was fatal to the Association ; for the then 
Lord Mayor, acting, as he (Mr. Sergeant Talfourd) thought, 
extrajudicially, expressed opinions about this Association which 
were fatal to it. It sometimes happened that Magistrates 
thought fit to express opinions, and to let them find their way 
through the great channels of communication to the world, 
which were injurious to the character of individuals ; and 



20 



though he would not borrow the very striking and strong lan- 
guage with which a former Lord Chancellor (Lord Brougham) 
had reprobated these extrajudicial inquiries of Magistrates, 
still as absolute wisdom did not always preside over the city 
and inspire magistrates, he thought it would be better if they 
would confine themselves to the simple discharge of their duties* 
especially when there was not a legal education to guide them. 
Without any reference to the character of Sir John Pirie, he 
thought it would have been better had he confined himself 
simply to the line of his duty, instead of taking the steps he 
did. He wrote to the Duke of Argyll on the subject, and the 
effect of that letter was, that that nobleman thought it right 
instantly to withdraw his name from this Association. Many 
others immediately took the alarm on no other grounds, and 
the consequence was the paralyzation and utter ruin of the 
prospects of the Association. On the 1st of November the 
vessel proceeded on its voyage. That voyage was most unfor- 
tunate, for having started too late in the season in consequence 
of these delays, the vessel met with violent adverse winds, and 
the result was that she was compelled to put back to the coast 
of Cork. There these emigrants found themselves landed 
where they did not intend to land, and they became the sub- 
ject of grear charity. The succeeding Lord Mayor took an 
interest in their case, and the result of this calamity was fatal 
to the Association. When Mr. Rolfe returned from Canada, 
he found that the affairs of the Association were in such a 
condition that even the enthusiasm which he had endeavoured 
to breathe into it could not revive it ; and the Association, in- 
stead of issuing debentures or shares, never obtained a single 
shilling more than the money he had stated. During the 
time that the Association existed, it was assailed by the press, 
and he did not complain of that. So long as any project af- 
fected large public interests, he did not complain of the press 
exercising vigilance respecting it. The substantial debts of 
the Association were small, and, of course, " the commission- 
ers" were liable for them, and its creditors very rightly re- 
sorted to the nobleman who had presided over the Association 
and had taken shares in it. However, with this he had no- 
thing to do, except that it explained the article of which the 



21 



plaintiff complained. An action was brought against the Duke 
of Argyll for the price of some maps furnished to the Associa- 
tion, and the jury found that there was not sufficient evidence 
to fix him with the liability of payment, and the action did 
not succeed. In another Court, however, a person of the, 
name of Lake brought another action, which was tried before 
Lord Denman, for the cost of printing, and the evidence then 
given did satisfy the jury that his Grace the Duke of Argyll 
had become responsible for the debt. With this they would 
have thought the public journals had little concern, and would 
scarcely have imagined that whether the Duke of Argyll, and 
Sir Richard Broun and Sir Allan M'Nab and Mr. Rolfe were 
all liable or not, would have provoked a leading article in a 
journal in which space was so precious as happily it was in 
this journal. A leading article, however, was written, and re- 
peated all the history of the Association, and in such language 
as prohibited the plaintiff from thinking that he could hold 
his course with hononr unless he challenged the newspaper to 
retract or to prove its statements. After this long preface he 
would proceed to read the article of which the plaintiff com- 
plained. It was in the Globe newspaper of the 4th of July 
1844. The learned counsel then proceeded to read the fol- 
lowing article, which was the libel complained of: — 

" His Grace the Duke of Argyll, and the British-American 
Emigration and Colonization Association, will be long asso- 
ciated in public recollection. The Duke and the emigration 
jobbing scheme will go down to posterity hand-in-hand. The 
scheme was concocted by others. The Nova Scotia Baronets, 
who lent their titles to its prospectus for a ' con-si-de-ra-ti-on,' 
to invest it with dignity in the eyes of the ignorant, and the 
penniless commissioners and directors of the nefarious scheme, 
have figured in various forms and in different courts of law, 
in connection with the Association and the liabilities it in- 
curred. The Duke of Argyll was at its head. We do not 
impute any fraud to his Grace of Argyll — God forbid! The 
Duke merely allowed himself to be duped into lending his 
name and title to the scheme, from an idea of the benefits 
which would result from shipping off, from certain estates he 
possessed, a number of superfluous bodies, to the unknown 
regions which were to be colonized by the British- American 
Association. His Grace of Argyll was quite a godsend to the 



22 



schemers. To have a Duke as patron and president of their 
bubble was the very thing they wanted. No one would be so 
presumptuous as to doubt the validity or question the veracity 
of a project of which the Duke of Argyll was the head, and in 
the management of which his Grace took an active part. The 
bait was successful — at least up to a certain point. Trades- 
men sent in stores for ' the good ship Barbadoes.' Emigrants 
lodged their money with the e commissioners,' for the purchase 
of land, and for their conveyance, with their families, to the 
glorious island which the commissioners and directors stated 
they had the right to dispose of, and which they, with the 
most suspicious liberality, were anxious to sell, dirt cheap, to 
whoever would pay earnest money, and go out to take posses- 
sion of the estates they had thus cheaply obtained. How the 
whole bubble burst — how the vessel was compelled to put 
back through inability to go forward — how the impudent 
knavery of the directors was exposed, and their dishonesty and 
cruelty to the wretched people they had inveigled on board 
their ship, were demonstrated and denounced; — these, and 
much more, were shown up at the time by the public journals, 
and need not now to be repeated. 

" We then remarked, and in more than one article on the 
subject proved, that, though not cognizant of the frauds which 
other parties — bankrupts in character no less than in pro- 
perty — contemplated by means of the Association, his Grace 
of Argyll was manifestly, legally, and morally liable to the 
tradesmen and others who had been induced to supply their 
goods, or to entrust their money to the managers, on the cre- 
dit of his name, and by the fact of the open interest he took 
in the project. We advised the Duke, for his own sake — 
from regard to his personal reputation, and for the sake of the 
Peerage of which he is a distinguished member — to do that 
voluntarily which the law would eventually compel him to do, 
if appealed to by the sufferers. The penalty might be high ; 
but it was incurred through his own neglect. A due consi- 
deration of his position, a very little inquiry into the charac- 
ters of the projectors, and into the project he was asked to 
patronize, and thus commend to public confidence, would have 
sufficed to open his eyes to the folly and danger of placing 
himself at the head of such an enormous humbug. His Grace 
committed himself to the fortunes of the undertaking, and had 
no right to complain if he — almost the only individual of 
the fraternity who possessed anything beyond the decent gar- 
ments in which the managers were compelled to appear in 
order to carry on the delusion— is called upon to pay the bills 
of tradesmen for goods supplied to the Association on the ere- 



23 



dit of his Grace's name, used with his knowledge and per- 
mission. 

" The question of the Duke of Argyll's legal liability has 
been at length established in a court of law. Yesterday, in 
an action tried before Lord Denman and a special jury, the 
claim of a tradesman, who sued his Grace for £145, for print- 
ing, was affirmed, and a verdict given in favour of the plaintiff. 
The printing consisted of the prospectuses, in which the Duke's 
name figured as president ; the captivating resolutions passed 
at meetings of the Association, which were verified by the 
Duke's signature ; and the other appliances and means by 
which the monstrous delusion was kept afloat. The result of 
this trial will be a salutary warning to noblemen and other 
respectable individuals whose names are solicited for purposes 
which, however flattering in sound and semblance, are void of 
all the requisite elements to give them stability and success. 
The question of the Duke of Argyll's legal liability having 
been established — for the responsibilities it incurred during 
the period he continued to allow his name to be used by the 
concern — we presume the other claimants, similarly circum- 
stanced, will have little difficulty in obtaining payment, or se- 
curity for payment, of their demands. His Grace will surely 
not compel these unfortunate people to drag him into court to 
obtain verdicts. One such exhibition as that of yesterday is 
sufficient to settle the point of liability. A second would be 
more damaging to the noble Duke's fame than the aggregate 
of the demands would prove, if paid without further contro- 
versy, to his pecuniary resources. 

" The Joint-Stock Companies Bill, which is now before the 
House of Commons, will exercise a very salutary restraint upon 
such nefarious schemes as that which has brought the Duke 
of Argyll into his present difficulties. This bill is the result 
of a Parliamentary inquiry into joint-stock companies, the evi- 
dence taken before which exposed the deep-laid knavery in 
which many such schemes are founded, and led to the sugges- 
tions and recommendations for the public protection, in com- 
pliance with which this bill was framed. The main objects of 
the bill are to establish publicity and regularity in the proceed- 
ings of joint-stock companies, and to prevent jobbing in scrip. 
Publicity will defeat the knaves who contrive to support them- 
selves on bubbles. Let the names of shareholders be regis- 
tered, with the number of the shares they hold, the amount of 
paid-up capital, and the other particulars which the project- 
ors of bubble-schemes studiously apply themselves to conceal, 
be published, and the public will be protected against sharpers 
of both high and low degree. Such speculators on public 



24 



gullibility have driven a thriving trade in this disreputable 
class of traffic. It will be easy to remove the objection taken 
to the bill in the course of the discussion of last night, that 
bona fide trading companies will be unnecessarily interfered with 
by its powers. Indeed, it seems to us, that the more openly 
the affairs of such companies are exhibited to the public, the 
.more firm will be their hold on public confidence." 

This was the article of which the plaintiff complained, in 
which the term " sharpers" was used, as fitly describing the 
proceedings of the Association. Did the defendant retract or 
apologize? JSTo. [The learned counsel then described the pleas, 
an abstract of which is given above, and which it is unneces- 
sary to repeat.] One Of the special pleas alleged that in truth 
and in fact the real objects and designs of the plaintiffs and 
others, commissioners and directors of this Association, they 
being in mean and indigent circumstances, were to enrich 
themselves with the moneys of any persons who might take 
shares in the company, under the impression that its object 
was a real and bona fide one. The pleas then stated that the 
projectors induced the Duke of Argyll to take fifty shares, 
when they were without means or without any chance of ob- 
taining means for purchasing these lands, or acquiring a good 
title to them, and that the sole object of the plaintiff and others 
was to enrich themselves by the improper and fraudulent ap- 
propriation of sums obtained from persons who imagined the 
scheme to be a bona fide one. He would call Mr. Rolfe before 
them, and ask them, after his evidence, whether it was fitting 
to call this scheme a " bubble" and a " fraud;" and should 
ask them to give fair damages for the injury the plaintiff had 
received. Whether the scheme was the dream of persons of 
high rank or of low rank, when an English gentleman or a 
Scottish gentleman complained of a personal calumny against 
him as the conductor of a scheme, it was not to the result of 
the scheme that they must look, but to the motive and feeling 
and design which promoted it. By that he would stand or fall. 
If the plaintiff deserved infamy, he should not regret to see him 
fail ; if otherwise, he should look for a verdict at their hands. 

William Taton Hall was called, and proved the registration 
of the defendant as the printer and publisher of the newspaper 
called the Globe and Traveller, on the 4th of July 1844. 



25 



Thomas Rolfe was then called and examined by Mr. Ser- 
geant Talfourd. — He deposed that he was brought up to the 
medical profession, and in 1833 he went out to Canada, to the 
western extremity of Lake Ontario. He had previously prac- 
tised as a medical man in different places in this country, and 
was unfortunate, and went out to repair his fortunes. He prac- 
tised his profession there, and turned his attention to agricul- 
ture ; and in 1837 he received a government medical appoint- 
ment from Sir F. Head, and afterwards an appointment for 
the purpose of promoting emigration. In 1839 he visited this 
country with instructions from Canadian proprietors to restore 
the tide of emigration, which, in consequence of political dis- 
turbances, had stopped altogether. When he came to this 
country he sought the acquaintance of the plaintiff, then living 
in Wigmore Street, Cavendish Square. He sought him out 
because he was secretary to an influential agricultural associa- 
tion. In the summer of 1840 he returned to Canada, and then 
received an appointment from Lord Sydenham, as agent from 
the Canadian government for the promotion of emigration to 
that colony. He then again saw the plaintiff, and made a visit 
to Edinburgh, and attended a meeting at the Hopetoun Rooms 
on the 10th of January 1841, the Duke of Argyll presiding. 
Witness took part at that meeting. There was a great num- 
ber of noblemen and heritors and chiefs at that meeting. He 
had not conferred before with the Duke of Argyll as to the 
scheme of the Association. The object of the meeting was to 
take measures to alleviate the extreme destitution in the Wes- 
tern Islands ; and the witness addressed himself to the advan- 
tages to be derived by emigration to Canada, to which he could 
speak from his personal knowledge. He afterwards dined with 
his Grace the Duke of Argyll in Edinburgh. He then returned 
to Canada. In the meantime he had made the subject of emi- 
gration his study, and had received a purse of 500 guineas 
from Montreal ; from Toronto 100 guineas, and a public din- 
ner ; and also the same from Kingston. He received appoint- 
ments in Canada for the sale of several properties. In May 
1841, he was examined before a committee of the House of 
Commons on the subject of emigration in connection with the 
destitution of the Highlands, and his Grace the Duke of Argyll 

E 



26 



was also examined. The Association in question was then 
formed, and the plaintiff himself, Sir Allan M'Nab, Mr. Bucker- 
field, and others, formed it, the Duke of Argyll being presi- 
dent ; its double object being to relieve the distress in the 
Highlands, and to promote colonization in Canada. He met 
the plaintiff, as secretary to the Nova Scotia Baronets, at the 
Thatched-house Tavern, their object being to devise means to 
revive their claims to the Nova Scotia lands, and it was thought 
the projected colonization might forward their object. He re- 
turned to England in March 1842, and was acting as emi- 
gration agent during that time. He was accompanied by 
Sir Allan M'Nab, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of 
Canada, and the person whose name appeared in the executive 
council of this Association. 

The resolutions of the original meeting, forming the Asso- 
ciation, on the 2d of February 1842, were put in, proposing 
to establish the Association by the subscription of shares, the 
profits to be divided amongst the proprietors, and holding out 
lands for the colonization of Highlanders on terms of £1 an 
acre for the purchase ; these lands to be purchased by the As- 
sociation with the amount of the shares. 

Examination continued — He was present at a meeting at 
JSTo. 29, Bridge Street, Blackfriars, when certain members of 
the Association were constituted the Consulting Council, on 
the 22d of April 1842. The Duke of Argyll presided. Sir 
William Dunbar, Sir James Hay, Sir Allan M'JNab, Sir J. 
Cockburn, Sir W. Bruce, Mr. Andrews, and Mr. Buckerfleld, 
were there. Mr. Buckerfield acted as secretary. (The minute- 
book, containing the minutes of the meeting, was put in, and 
the minutes read.) The Association was first styled " The 
Scottish and British- American Association," and afterwards 
" The British-American Association." (It appeared that the 
printed document circulated and published, and which pur- 
ported to be a copy of the minutes of the proceedings of the 
" Court of the Consulting Council" at that meeting, was not 
an exact copy of the proceedings, but contained the substance 
of the minutes.) On the 29th of April 1842, there was an- 
other meeting of the " Consulting Council," at which the Mar- 
quis of Downshire presided, and several baronets were there. 



27 



(The purport of the minutes of these meetings, which were 
very lengthy, was to show that crime was increasing in Scot- 
land, and also distress, and that unless adequate remedies were 
found, the most alarming consequences were ultimately to be 
apprehended. That, for the purpose of extending the influence 
of this country, and of alleviating the pressure of that distress, 
it was advisable to promote a well-conducted system of emi- 
gration to the Canadian settlements and to Prince Edward's 
Island.) Mr. Ogden, the Attorney-General for Upper Canada, 
was present at the meeting. One of the resolutions was, that 
a part of the executive council should proceed as " commis- 
sioners" to Scotland, to induce Scotch proprietors to join the 
Association ; and he proceeded there, and was present at a 
meeting at Edinburgh, at which he addressed the meeting and 
advocated the cause of the association. Dr. Alison was pre- 
sent at the meeting. Sir Allan M'JNab and the plaintiff ad- 
dressed the meeting; also Professor M'Farlan, and some others. 
The deputation from the British- American Association visited 
Glasgow and Paisley afterwards, where meetings were held. 
At this period the Court adjourned till Saturday. 

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21. 

The examination of the witness was resumed at great length, 
and the leading facts stated in the opening speech regarding 
the Association were proved by him. It appeared that a " con- 
stitution deed," describing the objects and powers of the Asso- 
ciation, had been drawn up and agreed to. This was signed 
by the " commissioners," and was submitted to the " consult- 
ing council," and approved of. This deed was stamped with 
an engraved seal, but was not otherwise executed except by 
the " commissioners." 

The examination of the witness having continued to nearly 
one o'clock, 

His cross-examination was commenced by Sir T. Wilde. — 
He had been bankrupt twice, once before he went out to Ca- 
nada, and since then in consequence of his liabilities. He first 
went out to Canada as a settler. He took out no capital with 
him. He was the first who suggested sending out emigrants 
to Nova Scotia, and he first opened a communication with the 



28 



Duke of Argyll on that subject. Sir Richard Broun, the plain- 
tiff, was at that time the honorary secretary of the Royal 
Agricultural Association of England. The " Commissioners" 
of the Association first called themselves " commissioners" in 
March 1841. He did not know then that the attorney of the 
Association had run away from Newcastle, and had not a shil- 
ling. Witness had property to the extent of £1200 sterling in 
hard cash in England. He knew that Sir R. Broun had pro- 
perty, but did not remember his ever paying any money to 
anybody. He did not know and did not believe that the plain- 
tiff was ever in prison. On the 4th of February 1841, it was 
first proposed to purchase land for the purposes of emigration 
to Canada. It was first proposed to apply part of the capital 
collected to the prosecution of the claims of the Scottish Ba- 
ronets, and then to the purposes of colonization. The proposal 
to join the two objects together was made on the 2d February 
1842, Sir Frederick Hamilton in the chair. This proposal 
was objected to. Sir R. Broun, the plaintiff, proposed to com- 
bine these two objects. On the 29th April 1842, Sir James 
Cockburn strongly objected to this union of objects of the As- 
sociation. Upon that objection being made, a resolution was 
come to, not to keep these two objects united. That resolution 
did not appear on the minutes of the meeting. There was an 
understanding that nothing should be done by the Association 
till £50,000 were subscribed. As one of the " commissioners," 
witness concurred in the propriety of taking measures to sell 
shares. On the 12th of August 1842, at a meeting of the 
"commissioners" at which he was present, the " commission- 
ers" agreed among themselves that less deposit should be taken 
on the shares, and to reduce the amount of capital, " and se- 
veral alterations were directed to be made;" the minutes not 
stating what they were. Witness, Sir William Andrews, and 
the plaintiff, had signed these minutes. In July in that year it 
was determined to withdraw the shares and to borrow £30,000 
on debentures. This resolution on the minutes had a line 
drawn through it. Before he went to Canada the " commis- 
sioners" voted their own salaries. Witness's salary was to be 
£500 a-year, Sir R. Broun's £1000 (afterwards by his own 
wish reduced to £500); Mr. Andrews's was to be £1000, and 



29 



he was to be called " Registrar, Commissioner, and Solicitor;" 
and Mr. Thompson, who was appointed controller of the ac- 
counts, was to have a salary of £500 a-year. He did not 
know what accounts they had to control. He did not receive 
information from the plaintiff that debentures were issued; 
but he learned that during his absence in Canada the " com- 
missioners" did issue debentures. He also knew from Broun, 
the plaintiff, that they had issued what they called " loan- 
notes." Sir J. Cockburn had objected to the issuing of de- 
bentures, and said it was absurd to issue debentures when they 
had no land on which to charge them. Sir James Cockburn 
strongly objected to it. Loan-notes of the Association were 
given to certain members of the company for their salaries. 
Witness had received the loan-notes, and had signed them for 
the salaries of the officers. He had learned from Sir Richard 
Broun that the Association had borrowed £1000 from a Mrs. 
Borlase, and that securities had been given to her for £1200, 
and that £750 of this sum was paid in to the plaintiff's 
bankers. Loan -notes had been given to Mrs. Borlase as a 
collateral security, and he (witness) had joined in the security. 
He did not get any part of the £1000 borrowed for himself. 
There was no authority in the original deed of constitution 
which had been agreed upon, to issue loan-notes. He was not 
aware that a sheet had subsequently been introduced into the 
deed of constitution giving the authority. ( The deed was put 
in, and it was shown that such a sheet had subsequently to its 
execution been inserted.) The sheet was in the handwriting 
of Woods, the clerk of the company. When he signed the 
constitution deed, he did not know that that sheet was in it. 
He knew that there was no authority given for the issuing of 
loan-notes before the execution of the deed, and he had no 
doubt — in fact he knew that the sheet containing that autho- 
rity was introduced long after the deed was signed. He would 
swear that he did not know that it was to be introduced before 
it was introduced. He knew that there was a sheet added to 
the deed of constitution, as Andrews and the plaintiff had had 
some conversation with him about it. He supposed it was 
added to give a sanction to the issuing of the loan-notes. On 
the 24th of January 1843, £600 in these promissory loan-notes 



30 



were paid to Mr. Buckerfield for his salary, he agreeing not to 
make the " commissioners " personally liable for their pay- 
ment. Witness did not know who was to be liable. Yarious 
sums in these notes, from £500 to £2000, were paid to the 
plaintiff, to Sir W. Ogilvy, to Sir A. M'Nab, and Mr. Bucker- 
field, for salaries ; to Mr. Andrews £2000, and on account of 
law expenses £1000. In this manner very likely £17,000 
worth of loan -notes were issued. He could not tell what 
amount of debentures were issued. It was very likely to be 
£10,000. 

At this juncture the learned counsel for the plaintiff, who 
had been consulting with him, made an intimation to Sir T. 
Wilde, which stopped the case. 

Sir T. Wilde — I believe, my Lord, our labours are termi- 
nated ; a proposal to withdraw a juror has been accepted. 

Mr. Sergeant Talfourd — The executive Commissioners mere- 
ly thought they were acting for their own regulation without 
binding other parties. I understand my learned friend to 
disclaim any part of that statement that the ship was unsea- 
worthy. 

Sir T. Wilde — Oh, certainly ; the ship was perfectly sound. 
The Lord Chief- Justice — That is not the most serious part 
of the case. 

A juror was then withdrawn by consent, and the case ter- 
minated. 



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